Shadow Adventure 2: Hero Story
by Ri2
Summary: Not just another role reversal! After surviving Snively's trap, Shadow has only fifteen minutes until the Eclipse Cannon fires again! Will he survive the final battle with Scales and save the world? See for yourself in the conclusion to the Hero Story!
1. City Escape

Hi. My name is Pi2. This will be my first entry into the Sonic category, so I hope you like it. As I said in the summary for this, it's not just another role reversal. You'll have to see for yourself. And I am sorry to say that Tails will not be appearing here. It's not that I don't like him, it's just that I can't think of much for him to do. Besides, I don't want to make him a villain. Sonic will also not be appearing. Well, he will, but only as a supporting character. Disclaimer: All characters appearing in this fanfic are copyrighted by Sega and Sonic Team. One character and place are copyrighted by Archie comics. One last character is owned by myself.  
  
Okay, before we really start this story, I thought I should provide this brief character guide so you know who's who in this game.  
  
HERO TEAM  
  
Shadow the Hedgehog: Main character and hero. Discovered about a decade ago by Dr. Ivan Robotnik in a cryogenic capsule. Awakened with no memories of his previous life, due to a bullet imbedded in his skull. Found with a Chaos Emerald and cool hover shoes. Testing seems to indicate he was created, not born, and is the "Ultimate Lifeform." Flat-out refuses to be commercialized in anyway. Has rejected every movie deal, advertisement, toy production and TV series offered him. Hates reporters.  
  
Amy the Hedgehog: Shadow's girlfriend. Created by leading scientist Professor Big in an attempt to make a female clone of Shadow. The experiment didn't work exactly the way it was supposed to. She is unable to use Chaos energy and is not as fast or as strong as Shadow, but compensates with a really big hammer. Loves Shadow.  
  
Knuckles the Echidna: Guardian of the Master Emerald and resident hero of Angel Island and the city of Echidnaopolis. Self proclaimed treasure hunter and bachelor. Doesn't have much of a social life due to his inflexibility in his task as Guardian of the Master Emerald. Whenever the thing breaks, he has to go looking for the pieces.  
  
DARK TEAM  
  
Scales the Lizard: Cyborg found in a G.U.N. research facility. Anger and revenge against G.U.N fuel her motives and feelings. Her reasons for this are as of yet unknown. Her past a mystery to all but herself, she seems to know Shadow from somewhere.  
  
Dr. Snively: Formerly Dr. Robotnik's lab assistant, Snively went renegade soon after the discovery of Shadow. Stealing many of Robotnik's greatest inventions, he conquered New York City and turned all of its citizens into machines. When he attempted to take over the East Coast, Shadow stopped him in his very first adventure. Since then, Snively has attempted multiple plans for world domination, all of which were thwarted by Shadow and friends. Currently has a new plan involving a certain lizard.  
  
Rouge the Bat: Shady treasure hunter who stole the Master Emerald, causing a certain Echidna to come after her. After the thing broke, she offered her skills to Snively to help him hunt down the elusive Super Emeralds. Loves jewels, but her true purpose and motives are a mystery.  
  
Okay, now that I've set that up, let's begin the story!  
  
Day 1, 7:00 PM.  
  
A military helicopter with the symbol for the government organization called GUN on the side flew high above the city of San Francisco. The pilot called ahead to their superiors at the top secret GUN headquarters. "This is Roger-Bravo-Delta, requesting orders, over." The reply came back. "Has the cargo been secured, over?" "Yes, we handcuffed the hedgehog to a pole, over." Said the pilot. There was a pause, then the guy on the other end said, "Uh, Roger- Bravo-Delta, you are aware that the subject is stronger than the average hedgehog, very cunning, not to mention has quills strong enough to cut through most metal, over?" The pilot blinked. "Um, no I was not aware of that, over." "Would you mind checking on the cargo to see if it is still secure, Roger-Bravo-Delta, over?" said the superior. "Right, just a minute, over." The pilot turned off the radio and poked his head through the door in the back of the cockpit. He saw the three other soldiers on the helicopter were lying on the floor, unconscious, and a black hedgehog with a white tuft of hair on his chest, red stripes on his spines, and some really neat looking gloves and shoes snapping what was left of the handcuffs on his wrists. The pilot quickly turned around and switched the radio back on. "Uh, sir, the hedgehog has gotten loose and taken out everyone on board! Requesting backup and.what was that noise?" the pilot said, hearing a loud bang. He quickly turned on the autopilot and ran into the main room of the helicopter. The door had been ripped off of its hinges. The pilot ran to the doorframe and looked out. He saw the black hedgehog clinging to one of the wings. "Hey, what are you doing? Get back in here or I'll shoot!" the man said, pulling out a gun. The hedgehog smirked. "No you won't. The wing has a fuel tank under it. If you shoot, you could risk destroying the helicopter." The hedgehog looked at the city below. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I have a date. So long." The hedgehog ripped off one of the wing flaps and jumped off, falling to the city below. The pilot cursed and ran back to the cockpit to call for assistance. The black hedgehog was, of course, Shadow. He had been nabbed by GUN on the way to his date with Amy Rose. He was more than a little angry that he was missing his date, mostly because he had been planning to propose that night. If he didn't show up, Amy might get mad enough to use her famous hammer on him at a later date. He would deal with Amy later, right now he had to get to his home, Dr. Robotnik's lab, to find out why he had been arrested in the first place. He held the flap over his head and activated the jets in his boots, seriously slowing his descent. When he was a couple of yards from the street, he put the wing flap under him and switched off the jets.  
  
Stage 1: City Escape. Mission: Escape from the Military Pursuit  
  
The flap hit the ground, Shadow landing on top of it. Using the wing flap as a sort of street board, Shadow started boarding down the road, getting many odd looks from the pedestrians on the sidewalks. He slid back and forth across the street, keeping from running into the many cars. He turned down a few side avenues, using his memory of the city's layout to get back home. After several near misses with cars and the sides of buildings, not to mention boarding off a couple of ramps, Shadow finally was launched off the side of a road, landing in a park. Since the ground was now flat, Shadow couldn't use the board any longer. He looked around and saw some big wooden crates blocking a staircase. He somersaulted into the crates, breaking them. He ran up the stairs. Two large Hunter series robots dropped from the sky and tried to shoot Shadow with their big guns. The hedgehog hit them both with a homing attack, destroying them and clearing the way. He ran into a short tunnel on his right, using the homing attack on the Hunter that tried to ambush him outside the tunnel. He ran down the long staircase in front of him, coming to another section of the park. Straight ahead was a staircase with a large pit full of metal pillars that went up and down. Shadow opted to take the stairs instead of the pillars. He followed the path at the top of the stairs to the left, destroying the Hunters that tried to shoot him. He ran through the archway the path led up to and ended up back in the streets. Checking the signs, he started running down the hill in front of him, once more watching out for cars. He ran down the many turns and corners on the street, finally arriving in a parking lot near another park. He ran past the cars and up one of the two brick stairways on a grassy hill. He ran through the tunnel on his left, destroying the Hunters in his path, and finding himself at the top of a long curved road for skateboarders, you know, a sort of half-pipe. He ran down the pipe, using the dash panels and his speed and momentum to run up the side of the wall. After a fun run down the pipe, he came to the end of the trail, which led to a straight path and some dash panel. He ran across the dash panels, allowing himself to run with extra speed down the path and up the big loop-de-loop and running down the side of the skyscraper right next to it. Shadow jumped off the side and used his jets to slow his descent as he neared the ground, landing in another park. Several robots of the Beetle series then attacked him. They fired lasers at him, but Shadow wiped out the whole swarm of Beetles with a chain of Homing Attacks. He ran along the path and up a brick stairway, killing the two Hunters at the top. He ran through a short tunnel and entered the streets of the city again. After another run down the side streets, ramps, and hills of the city, Shadow got to a large square that had an archway leading to another park area. Shadow thought, When did this city get so many parks? And headed through the archway. In front of him was a long, curving stairwell with an equally long railing. He could either walk, or do something really cool by grinding down the rail. He grinned and jumped onto the railing, his special shoes allowing him to skate down the metal rail. At the end, he hopped off and ran up a ramp to a platform next to a large pit. A spring was right on the edge. He jumped on the spring, launching himself onto a horizontal bar. He grabbed onto the bar and started swinging on it, picking up speed. He let go, launching himself from the bar and across the pit. At the other side of the pit was a pulley. He grabbed the pulley, which lifted him up to another section of the park. The path widened, leading downhill and through another half-pipe. Shadow started running towards the hill. Several Hunters dropped out of the sky and started shooting their guns at him. Shadow killed all the robots by running right between them. They turned after him, still firing their weapons, and blew each other up. Shadow ran down the half pipe, picking up incredible speed. At the end was another loop-de- loop. He ran around the loop and down the side of another skyscraper, landing in yet another park. There weren't any robots waiting to ambush him, which was a surprise. Shadow ran down the path ahead of him, past benches, bushes, and trash cans, until a Hunter lumped out of its hiding place behind a bush. Shadow somersaulted into the robot and ran to the right. A Beetle flew in his path. He destroyed it with a Homing Attack, and came to the next area. A large pit blocked his path. Several metal cylinders moved up and down in the pit. Shadow jumped to the closest one, using it as an elevator to get to the next cylinder. He jumped from cylinder to cylinder, finally getting across the pit. In front of him was another long, twisting stairway and rail. He hopped onto the railing and grinded down the stairs. At the bottom a Hunter leaped in front of him and was killed immediately by a somersault. Shadow was getting tired of this. If only his Chaos Emerald hadn't been taken from him! Then he could just warp back to the lab and be done with it. Ahead of him was an archway leading back to the streets. He checked the signposts and started running down the steep street ahead of him. As he was halfway down the long hill, he suddenly heard a very loud honking noise. He turned around. He gasped. Hurtling down the hill was a giant semi bearing the GUN logo. It was so big that it took up the entire street. People ran screaming as the truck smashed everything in its path, be it car, human, or anthropomorph. Shadow started running faster, not wanting to get caught under that thing's bumper. He saw a side street up ahead and ran down it, trying to lead the truck away from any more civilians. He was certain that more than a few had died already thanks to the truck. The truck roared after him, easily making the turn down the street. Shadow ran at full speed down the road, shouting at everybody that he passed to get indoors. Thankfully, one glimpse of the giant vehicle got everyone ahead of him to run into a building. Shadow looked ahead of him and saw only empty cars lining the sidewalks, no people. Breathing a sigh of relief, he kept going. He eventually reached the bottom of the street, where he rushed through an archway. He turned around and watched as the truck was unable to stop itself, crashing into the archway. The engine grille poked through the arch, blocking it. Shadow hoped the driver had died in the crash. He didn't know what the military was playing at here, but people were dying because of it. He shook his head in disgust and headed down the path before him. It led to a spring on the side of a building. He jumped onto the spring and was bounced onto a pulley. He grabbed onto it as it lifted him higher into the air. He jumped from the pulley to another one and was raised even higher. He saw a floating spring a short distance away. He let go of the pulley and used a Homing Attack to hit the spring, bouncing up to another pulley. It pulled him up and he saw another spring. He Homing Attacked to the spring, bouncing up to yet another pulley. It lifted him even higher. He saw a spring that moved up and down. He waited until it was high enough to jump to and made the leap. The spring bounced him up to one last pulley. Ahead of him was a bar he could swing from, but a Beetle with an electric force field blocked it. Shadow waited for the Beetle to lower the shield, then hit it with a Homing Attack. He used another Homing Attack while in the air to get to the bar. He swung on the horizontal pole a bit before launching himself into the air, landing on a ramp that would have been too big for him to just walk around. He ran down the ramp, finding himself back in the city streets again. He checked the signs and was pleased to see he was almost home. He ran down a few streets. It was now getting pretty late, so there weren't as many cars out. He soon ended up in a large square with an archway and a staircase in the back. In the center of the square was the Goal Ring. Shadow ran towards the center, leaping through the Goal Ring and ending the level.  
  
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A.)  
  
Shadow walked down the stairs, and was in another big square. This one had a few parked cars in the lots in front of some houses and stores, and a green spot with trees in the center. There were a few advertisements and billboards on top of the buildings. A road led away from the other three sides of the square. Directly across from Shadow was the road leading home. He could see the nice big building with the EGGMAN INDUSTRIES neon sign on top of it at the end of the street, only a block away. "I'm almost home! GUN can't stop me now!" he said. That's when a really big robot dropped down from the top of a building and started walking towards him. It strode forward on two big bent-back legs, each with three "toe" pads. The legs connected to a large body with two intake vents on either side of the front, an even larger intake and rocket engine system on the body's underside, a visible cockpit on the body's top and a triple barrel machine gun right beneath the cockpit. Coming out of either side of the robot's back were two big boxes with hinged lids, probably missile launchers. Shadow groaned. "I just had to open my big mouth, didn't I?" He sighed. "Well, come on, let's do this!" he started towards the walker. The mech's pilot radioed in to his superiors. "This is F-6T Bigfoot of Scorpion Troop reporting in. I have the target in sight and am proceeding to intercept." "Roger." Said the guy on the other end.  
  
F-6T BIGFOOT  
  
The walker stomped towards Shadow, obviously intending to flatten him with its huge feet. Shadow backflipped from the walker, jumped into the air, and slammed into the cockpit with a Homing Attack. The glass cracked a little and the walker shuddered a bit. Shadow leapt back as the robot surged forward. He rolled between the walker's legs and waited for the next assault. Bigfoot turned around and jumped off the ground. Its legs folded up underneath it and its rockets came online. The machine gun started firing high-speed bullets at Shadow. Shadow ran in a circle as the walker kept turning after him, trying to kill him with a well-placed bullet. Of course, it would take more than a bullet to kill this hedgehog. He was the Ultimate Lifeform after all. Eventually, the machine gun ran out of ammo and needed a moment to reload. The robot landed. Shadow ran towards the machine and hit the cockpit with another Homing Attack. The glass cracked more. The robot stumbled backwards and took to the air again, the machine gun reloaded. As the gun started firing at Shadow, the hedgehog started running in a faster circle, until he was right behind the walker. Starting to move in a tight, inward spiral Shadow soon ended up right beneath Bigfoot, out of the line of fire. When the mech tried to fly away to get a better vantage point, Shadow just stayed right underneath the machine. Finally, the pilot got frustrated and tried to land. Shadow rolled out of the way as the mech hit the ground. He was about to hit the cockpit with another homing attack when suddenly; one of the two boxes opened up, revealing four missiles. The missiles launched, homing in on Shadow. Shadow ran away from the missiles, using his speed to outlast the fuel tanks on the rockets. They plowed into cars, their engines spent, and exploded. Shadow winced and ran back towards Bigfoot, which looked like it was about to fly again. He jumped up and scored a Homing Attack on the cockpit before the robot could get into the air. The machine wobbled, but still took off and started shooting depleted-uranium shells from the machine gun again. Shadow stepped under the Bigfoot again and did the same technique as before to frustrate the pilot. When the mech landed, Shadow jumped up and was about to do the Homing Attack when both missile boxes opened and eight missiles rocketed towards him. They exploded, sending Shadow crashing into one of the nearby buildings, making a big dent. He fell to the ground, not moving. F-6T started walking towards him. The pilot called HQ. "This is Bigfoot. The hedgehog seems to be down, repeat, the subject seems to be down." "Roger that. Subdue the subject and take him to Prison Island headquarters." Said his contacts. "Roger. Over and out." Said the pilot. The walker stood over Shadow and was about to launch a capture net when Shadow suddenly got up. Stammering, the pilot called HQ. "Mayday! Mayday! The hedgehog is back up! Send backu-" He was silenced forever as Shadow performed another Homing Attack, smashing in the cockpit and sending razor-sharp glass into the pilot. He slumped, dead. Bigfoot lurched and fell over, inert. Shadow panted and got down from the machine. "I wish I hadn't had to do that, he left me no choice." Said Shadow to himself. "Well, time to go home." He started walking towards the path leading to the laboratory, thinking to himself that the doctor would be able to clear things up and if he ended up in court, the lawyers would be able to get him off on a charge of self-defense. It had been true, after all. He heard a noise, something landing on the robot behind him. He whirled around, and gaped at what he saw. "What the?" Standing on top of the fallen mech was what looked like a female anthropomorph lizard. Her flesh was orange-red, and the underside of her tail was yellow. The long, flexible appendage ended in two sharp, curved blades. Her two legs were bent back, but designed so that they allowed her to walk like most people and not like, say, a dinosaur. Her feet looked like the feet of a velociraptor, complete with talons and special scythe claw. She wore two metal rings around her ankles. A red transparent dome filled with complex machinery and a black Chaos Emerald was on her back. Cables came out of the dome, going into her back and up her long neck where they connected to the base of her skull. She had two long arms with elbow spikes and four-fingered claws. She had two bracelets similar to her anklets. Her head was sleek and reptilian, with nostril slits and intelligent, yellow eyes. Her mouth was full of small, sharp teeth and a snake's tongue. A sort of metal capsule grew from the spot between her eyes, with a blue crystalline window in it containing some sort of a microchip. In her right hand she was holding a large green jewel, similar in appearance to a Chaos Emerald but larger. She had not noticed Shadow yet. "It all starts with this, a jewel containing the ultimate power." The lizard said to herself. "That's the city's Super Emerald! What are you doing with that?" asked Shadow, astonished. The lizard looked down, noticing Shadow. Her eyes bulged and she almost slipped off of hr perch on the machine. "Sh-Shadow? Is that really you?" she asked, sounding shocked and a little happy. Shadow frowned. "Have we met?" The lizard blinked and her expression turned sad. "You don't.you don't remember me? Well, I guess that's to be expected." she said, disappointed. "I have no idea who you are. What are you doing with that Emerald? It belongs to the city. Give it back." Said Shadow. The lizard looked even sadder. "I'm sorry Shadow, but I can't give this up. I need it more than you can imagine. I also regret that you do not remember me." Shadow started towards her. "I don't know how you know me, but we can talk about being reacquainted after you give me that Super Emerald!" The lizard shook her head and held the jewel close. "Chaos.Control!" The black Emerald in her back flashed. The lizard disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing on a building on the other side of the square. Shadow's jaw dropped. "That was the Chaos Control! How do you know how to do it? Who are you?!" The lizard smiled a little. "I was born with the ability to use the power of the Emeralds, Shadow, as were you. As for my name." she said, pausing for dramatic tendency. "My name is Scales, the world's Ultimate Lifeform." "But that's impossible, I'm the Ultimate Lifeform!" Scales' smile broadened. "We both are. But for now, I must bid you farewell. Chaos Control!" She vanished again in a flash of green light. Shadow shielded his eyes from the flash. When she was gone, he said, "Scales, what is she?" Suddenly, several bright lights were shone on him. "Huh?" Several police cars, cops, and helicopters now faced Shadow, all with their guns trained on him. "Put your hands up, you are under arrest!" yelled one of the police officers. Shadow considered making a run for it or attacking the cops, but he knew he wouldn't survive either way. Reluctantly, he put his hands up, surrendering.  
  
How was this first chapter? Did you like it? If so, leave a review and the next chapter will soon be up. See you next time! e raHe 


	2. Wild Canyon

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Here's the next one. By the way, I'm afraid you won't like this one as much, since I'm not completely certain how to do treasure hunter levels. I'll try my best, though. Disclaimer: I only own Scales the Lizard, for now.  
  
Day 1, 12:00 PM  
  
The sun shone down on an interesting scene in the middle of the Egyptian desert. Two treasure hunters faced each other in some temple ruins half a mile from a pyramid. Between them was a massive green jewel. One of the hunters was a red Echidna with long dreadlocks/spines, spiked knuckles, and a white crescent on his chest indicating his guardianship. The other was an attractive white bat, with black wings, white boots with heart emblems at the tips, and a heart-shaped cover over a black leotard. Strangely enough, she had spiked knuckles as well. The two glared at each other. A few weeks ago, the bat had stolen the jewel from the shrine on Angel Island. Without the Master Emerald, the Island sunk from the sky, landing in the ocean. Knuckles had left the Island to track down the thief and get the magical rock back, as was his duty as Guardian of the Emerald. "Look, just give the Emerald to me!" he yelled. The bat scowled. "I'm not giving you this jewel! It's mine! I stole it, I keep it." Knuckles snorted. "What kind of lady goes around stealing jewels anyway?" "I do!" "And who are you, anyway?" "The name's Rouge the Bat, expert jewel thief. And I'm not letting you take my Emerald without a fight." She said. "YOUR Emerald?! Why I oughta-" Their conversation was cut when suddenly, a metal claw came down from the sky, grabbed the Emerald, and pulled it up. Rouge gasped. "What the hell? Give me back my Emerald, you thief!" Rouge yelled at the thing taking the Emerald. Knuckles snickered. "Look who's calling who a thief." The claw fully retracted. It was attached to the underside of a floating metal pod, one very familiar to Knuckles. In it was a man even more familiar to Knuckles. The man sitting in the pod was very short, wore a blue shirt and black pants that also doubled as shoes, and was also pretty ugly. He had a pale face, a long needle nose, and only a few hairs on his dome of a head. One of his eyes was a telescoping lens, one of his arms was completely robotic, and both of his legs were mechanical as well. (which was why they were covered up in such strange pants.) More parts of his body were mechanical as well, but they were inside of his body, such as a reinforced rib cage and an artificial liver. This man was the evil Dr. Snively, enemy of all living things on the planet. The reason for his baldness and mechanical body parts were because of his numerous battles with Shadow. Every time Snively attempted world domination, he always had an extremely powerful machine of doom he used to try and kill Shadow. The dark hedgehog always managed to blow up the machine, causing Snively to get damaged severely despite his escaping. In their first battle, Snively had lost most of his hair. When he had attempted to launch the Death Snivel for the first time, he had ended up losing his arm. You see where I'm getting at, don't you? Snively looked over the side of the pod at the Master Emerald, grinning. "Ah, this is the Master Emerald, is it not? It's not what I'm looking for, but it'll do nicely. I'd better recalibrate my Chaos detector, I'm looking for Super Emeralds, not the Chaos or Master Emeralds." "Snively, get your metal claws away from the Emerald!" growled Knuckles. "So THAT'S Dr. Snively." Rouge muttered to herself. Snively chortled. "What'll you do if I do touch it?" he asked. "How about this?" said Knuckles, raising his arms. Storm clouds gathered above them. Snively looked up, confused. Knuckles prepared the special attack he had learned recently. "Thunder Arrow!" "What are you-" Snively's query was broken off as a lightning bolt shot down from the heavens, striking Snively head on. As he flailed about, screaming, the lightning coursed through the pod, causing the claw to let go of the Master Emerald. The giant gem fell towards the ground. Both treasure hunters' eyes widened. They raced for the gem, trying to grab it before it hit the ground. They slammed into each other and fell over. The Emerald hit the ground and shattered, splitting into twelve pieces. The pieces flashed and vanished. Rouge screamed and grabbed Knuckles as they both got up. "You idiot! Why did you do that?!" Knuckles shoved the bat off of him. "Relax! The Emerald's just broken, not destroyed. If I find all the pieces, I can put it back together." Rouge blinked. "Oh. Okay then." Snively coughed up smoke, his hair more than a little burnt. "This bears looking into." He wheezed. He took the controls of his pod and flew wobbly away towards the pyramid. "Well, I'd better start looking for those pieces." Said Rouge, starting to walk away. "What are you talking about?" Rouge smirked. "I'm going to get the pieces of the Emerald first. I despise anyone who takes my gems. All the jewels in the world belong to me!" She ran off in the direction of the pyramid. Knuckles shook his head and walked away, trying to detect the pieces of the Emerald with his innate Chaos sense. He headed west, towards a canyon.  
  
Stage 2: Wild Canyon. Mission: Find three pieces of the Master Emerald.  
  
Knuckles was in a large, roughly circular underground chamber. There were several alcoves and large wall paintings scattered around the room. There were four pillars standing around a big well. A tornado came out of the well, going up through a big hole in the ceiling. Knuckles wandered all around the large chamber, trying to find the Emerald shards. He found many old GUN Beetles, Hawks, and Rhinos, but no shards. He even dug into every wall painting he could find, still not getting anywhere. Disgruntled, he walked over to the well and looked up to where the tornado was going. Perhaps the Emeralds were up there? Knuckles jumped into the tornado and spun around as he was lifted out into the fresh air. There were three side canyons splitting off from the middle hole. Several small statues and ruins littered these canyons. Knuckles started gliding in an attempt to gain control of himself. He flew around the edges of the tornado, picking up speed until he was able to go into one of the side canyons. At the far end was a statue that looked kind of lonely. He glided towards the statue and was surprised when his Emerald senses went wild. He landed on a big ruin close to the Lonely Statue and tried to triangulate the shard's position. He looked around and saw the missing piece floating beneath a platform jutting from the wall. The Echidna jumped off the ruin and glided towards the Emerald, grabbing it in midair. He landed and stored the piece in a little bag he kept in his dimensional space (Oh come on, you know that all video game characters have a dimensional pocket of some sorts in which to store things) and walked back towards the tornado. When he passed a wall painting underneath a ledge, his Emerald senses went off again. He walked towards the painting, making sure his senses were accurate. He climbed onto the painting and dug into it, entering a secret chamber. There were several identical wall paintings surrounding him. Knuckles walked towards each painting, trying to find the appropriate painting. He was surprised to find that two of the paintings were setting off his Emerald senses. He walked to the closest one and dug into it. He landed in a chamber with one of the shards! He grabbed it and dug back through the painting. He went to the other one and burrowed into it, landing in a large chamber with several pillars of differing heights. The Emerald piece was floating in the air high above the center of the room, too high for him to glide to. He looked around and saw a spring on top of the smallest pillar. He climbed up and ran into the spring. He was launched into the air, grabbing the Emerald piece as he passed it. He landed on the tallest pillar and did a little victory dance.  
  
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A.)  
  
"Yeah! Three down, nine to go! Now, how do I find the rest?" said Knuckles to himself. The bag holding the Emeralds vibrated. "Huh?" The Emerald shards glowed. A swirling blue portal opened before Knuckles. "Oh, I see. The pieces are sensing some of their siblings and are providing me with a way to get to them quickly. Okay then." Knuckles leaped into the portal, which closed behind him.  
  
How was this chapter? I know it was kind of short, but it's hard to describe the treasure hunt levels. Don't worry, the next one will have more action. Promise! 


	3. Prison Lane

Here's the first mission for Amy. I hope you enjoy it. Sorry if the cutscene thing is a little too long for this chapter. Disclaimer: I own Angel the Chao and the Storming Hearts I-III. I own the Passion as well.  
  
Day 2, 9:00 AM.  
  
In a chamber deep within Big Laboratories, two beings slumbered. One was an adorable Chaos Light Chao. She was white and pink, with blue eyes and a halo. She was snoozing to herself, curled up in a soft and cushioned box. The other was standing upright, hidden inside a metal cylinder that went up to the ceiling. One of the lab's several Omochao flew into the room and went over to a control panel next to the cylinder. He pressed a few buttons. The room's lights turned on. The Chao woke up and yawned. The Omochao pressed another button. A feminine computer voice said, "Sonic shower activated." High-intensity sound waves rippled through the cylinder, cleaning the sleeper within the tube. "Cleansing process complete. Dressing in progress." There were a few weird noises from inside the tube as the machines inside dressed the sleeper. "Dressing complete. Wakeup sequence initiating." The cylinder opened, and the sleeper walked out. She was a pink hedgehog with short quills, a red hairband, yellow bracelets and a red shirt and miniskirt. She blinked some sleep out of her eyes. The Chao ran over and hugged her mistress's legs. "Morning Angel. Morning #779." She said, a little tired. "Miss Amy, its time for breakfast. Your father wants to show you something." Said Omochao #779. Amy headed for the door after grabbing her famous Piko Piko Hammer, Angel the Chao trailing after her. "Well, I mustn't keep Daddy waiting. Maybe he knows why Shadow never showed up for our date last night. Come on Angel." They headed through the laboratory, ending up in the dining room. Amy's "father", Professor Big, was just that. He was a really big cat. He was reading the newspaper. He looked up as Amy entered. "Ah, Amy, so you're awake! Dear, I am sorry to say I have some bad news." "What is it? Did Froggy get stuck in the bathtub again?" asked Amy. Big shook his head. "No, no, look here, in the paper." He handed the newspaper to Amy. She took it and gasped. "Shadow the Hedgehog Arrested?!" she screamed, reading from the headline. Big nodded. "Yes, Shadow was arrested by the government/military organization called GUN." "On what charge?" He shrugged. "It doesn't say. However, it does say that he's been taken to a base on old Alcatraz, or as they call it, Prison Island." Amy threw the paper on the table. "I've got to go rescue him! How dare those GUN people ruin my date!" "Not until you eat your breakfast." He said firmly. Reluctantly, Amy sat down and ate the food in front of her, passing the table scraps to Angel. When she was done, she got back up. "Can I go save my boyfriend now?" Big got up as well. "Yes, but I don't advise you just going out there by boat. Patrol boats and mines guard the Island. It would be advisable for you to fly there." "But I don't have a plane." Big smiled. "Follow me." The professor led Amy and Angel to the roof of the building. Something lay there, covered by a sheet. The cat tore off the sheet, revealing a small three-seater jet plane. Amy gasped. It was primarily pink, with several areas ringed with red. It had VTOL jets built into the bottom, near the landing gear. A bazooka barrel protruded above the plane's nose. The words "Storming Heart III" were written on the side. Amy looked up at the professor. "Is this.?" He nodded. "I know how much you loved the last two planes, and how sad you were when both were destroyed. So I built you a new one for a birthday present. It's a bit early, but I think you'll need it more now." Amy's eyes welled up and she hugged Big. "Thank you Daddy!" She ran over and jumped into the cockpit. "So, what does this model do?" "It has the standard plane mode, with guns of course. It also can turn into that cool X-wing thing like the last model, and it can also turn into a Kart. But that's not the coolest thing it can do." "There's more?" she asked eagerly. Big nodded. "Yes. It has a third mode, which I call the Passion. It enables the plane to transform into a cool robot walker. It comes with the bazooka you already see here, boosters that allow you to hover, and the tail fin becomes a swiveling lock-on laser blaster that allows you to shoot multiple enemies at once. I even gave it a little control seat so Angel can be your secondary gunner." Eager for the chance to blow things up, Angel jumped into the plane after Amy. "Oh, it also has this cool little Hammer that comes out of the front if you're really close to an enemy, too close to shoot. I think you'll have a lot of fun with this, Amy. But be careful, it can only take so much damage before it falls apart. Fortunately, it has an auto-repair function, but it only works out of battle." Amy blew Big a kiss. "I love you Daddy! Thank you for this! I've got to go save Shadow now. See you later!" She activated the jets and flew off of the roof. Big waved as she vanished from view.  
  
A little later, Amy was over the island. Alcatraz had changed a lot since the original days of its use. It had gotten a bit bigger due to terraforming, and was now a lush jungle instead of an inhospitable rock. The old prison was still there; somewhere in the jungle, but GUN had a base and a harbor on the north end of the island. Amy flew lower in a tight spiral, trying to land just outside the base. As she got much closer, she was surprised to see two people in front of the base, on a platform extending out of the water. One was a tall man with an egg-shaped figure and long, lanky appendages. He had goggles and dark glasses, and had a huge brown mustache. It was Dr. Robotnik! But what was he doing here? Amy got a good look at the other figure and groaned. It was Dr. Snively, sitting in a mech walker much like the one Big had described to her, except it was gray and not at all nice looking. It looked more like it transformed into Snively's standard hoverpod then a plane, and the laser blaster seemed to be operated by Snively instead of a Chao. Snively was advancing towards a frightened Robotnik, a nasty looking gun in his hand. "Snively! What's he doing here? Well, we've got to stop him from hurting Robotnik. Come on Angel, let's see what this baby can do!" Amy pressed the labeled transformation button. The Storming Heart when through a cool sequence, transforming into the Passion walker. (Just imagine it as looking like Tails' plane and walker). Angel flew up into the gunner's seat on the tail. A force field bubble surrounded both cockpits, protecting them from actual harm. The walker fell from the sky. Amy used the boosters to hover to the ground, landing with a loud clunk. Snively turned around and was naturally surprised to see Amy. "What? Amy? What are you doing here? Can't you see I'm trying to kill my old mentor here?" Amy started towards Snively. "Don't you dare hurt the doctor, Snively!" The evil scientist sighed and put the gun. "Fine, you want to play? Let's play! But I warn you; you're going to regret it. Robotnik, stay out of our way, I'll kill you later." The fat man gulped and ran to the sidelines to watch. The force field went up around Snively's cockpit as he rushed towards Amy.  
  
DR. SNIVELY  
  
Snively ran towards Amy. She fired a shot from her cannon. The evil doctor moved out of the way and locked on to her. Amy tried to run away as he fired a laser blast, but it chased after her and hit. The walker shuddered. Amy jumped, using the Boosters to hover over a surprised Snively. Angel spun around, locked onto Snively, and fired. Snively's walker was hit. As Amy landed, Snively turned around and hit her with a boxing glove that shot out of a panel on the front of his robot, damaging the Passion. Amy responded with a strike from her hammer. They exchanged several hits with the glove and hammer before moving away from one another. Angel tried to lock on to Snively again, but he ran out of the way of the targeting laser. When he tried to lock onto them, Amy used the same strategy, running away from the laser. Snively shot at her several times with his cannon. Amy avoided most of the shots, but got hit twice, to her discomfort. She rapidly fired a dozen shots in a tight radius; hoping one of them would hit Snively. The evil doctor had tried dodging the first shot, but by moving away, six or so of the other shots struck him. Snively started getting angry. He pressed a few buttons on his control panel. A few slots opened up on the back of his legs. Several rockets launched from them, homing in on Amy. Surprised, she ran away as the rockets exploded behind her. Snively started preparing to fire again. Angel locked onto him and fired a laser blast while he was launching the rockets, hitting him and causing the walker to lurch. As Amy dodged the rockets, Snively growled and shouted, "No more games!" He slammed his fist into a button on the control panel. The lens on the front of the walker glowed and fired an incredibly huge and powerful laser, sweeping it around the area until it struck Amy's walker. She and Angel screamed as the Power Laser tore through their walker's hull, wrecking it. Wracked with small explosions, the Passion fell over. The force fields flickering off, Angel and Amy were roughly dumped onto the ground. Amy moaned and looked up in fear as Snively's walker came over and loomed over them. The evil doctor giggled. "Well, it's been fun, but now it's time to-" He paused, noticing something on his control panel. He scowled and looked down on Amy and the Chao. "Well, I'll let you off this time, but next time we meet, I'll finish this!" His walker's legs folded up, the machine transforming into his hoverpod. He flew away, disappearing behind the building. Amy stood up, a little wobbly. "Angel, are you okay?" The Chao nodded, rubbing her head. Robotnik ran over. "Amy, are you okay?" She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. What are you doing here?" "I came to rescue Shadow." She stared at him. "What? Is that so hard to believe?" She and Angel nodded. Robotnik harrumphed. "I'll have you know that I am carrying half a million dollars. I planned to sneak in to see the leader of this base and offer the money to bail Shadow out of prison." She shook her head. "Doc, I doubt that would have worked even if Snively hadn't showed up. They would probably arrest you for just being here." Robotnik sighed. "I know, I know, but I had to try, didn't I?" "Well don't worry, Dr., I'll bust Shadow out!" Angel scowled and tugged on Amy's leg. "Sorry, we'll bust Shadow out! By the way, what's Snively doing here?" Robotnik shrugged. "I really have no idea. When I got here, he was in his walker, talking with a bat and a lizard, both females. When he spotted me, he told them to get their jobs done while he took care of me. Then you showed up." Amy frowned. "Maybe Shadow will be able to make something of it. I'll ask him when I catch up to him." She looked over at the walker and was pleased to see it was all fixed. "Ah, the auto-repair system worked perfectly. Now we can go get Shadow!" She climbed into the walker, followed by Angel. As she started for the entrance into the building, Robotnik stopped her. "Wait! What am I supposed to do?" Amy thought for a moment. "Meet me and Shadow at the south end of the island. A big genius like yourself can figure out how to avoid all the guards in the jungle, right?" Robotnik seemed to take a little pride in her remark. "Of course, I got to this island without running into a mine or being blown up even once." "Good. See you soon, doc!" Amy entered the base.  
  
Stage 3: Prison Lane. Mission: Find the core of the prison.  
  
Amy and Angel entered a large room with several Hunters and Beetles. A lift was in the corner, and a barred gate blocked the exit. As the robots took aim, Angel spun around on her post, locking onto all the enemies. She fired, destroying them all. However, the gate was still closed. Amy looked around, but could see no other enemies. She noticed the lift and walked onto it. It raised, and a Hornet series robot appeared! Before it could shoot a homing missile at them, Amy blasted it with her cannon, opening the gate. The lift lowered, and she walked through. She entered a corridor with a gate at the end. In the room behind the gate were a couple of Hunters who hadn't noticed her yet. Angel locked on to the Hunters and destroyed them, opening the gate. They went into the room beyond and were confronted by more Hunters. Amy and Angel blew them away with several blasts, then proceeded down an enclosed hallway next to a searchlight. There was a Hunter in the tunnel, easily disposed of with a blast from Amy's cannon. At the end of the hallway was another room, similar to the first. As they came out of the end of the hallway, which was enclosed like the first, several Beetles ambushed them. After destroying all of them, Amy tried to find the exit. There didn't seem to be any, other than the way they had come from. She looked around and saw a lift next to the enclosed hallway. She walked onto the lift, elevating to the top of the hallway. She stepped onto the top of the hallway and looked around again. She saw a fence in front of her. She jumped over it, and saw a short hallway in the wall next to her. She walked into the hallway. A gate blocked the end, with some enemies on the other side. Angel blasted the enemies, lowering the gate. They came out into a small chamber with a passage high on the left wall, and a lift under it. Amy walked onto the lift and was raised up to the passage. She walked down it, coming out in a large room with a chasm. A catwalk went to the left. There was a single Beetle in the room and a slightly high room with a gate on the wall near the catwalk. Amy shot the Beetle, blowing it up. The gate opened. She walked to the edge of the catwalk and jumped towards the open door, hovering across the gap. She passed through the door inside the room, and came out in a large chamber with a big gate bisecting the room. Amy and Angel destroyed all the Hunters and Beetles they could see, lowering the gate. On the other side, once behind the gate, was a hallway with a lift beneath it. Amy walked onto the lift and was raised into the hallway. She walked down the hall, past some empty cells, and dropped into a room with several canisters, small walls, and Hunters. After destroying the Hunters, she passed through the hallway at the back of the room. She came into a room with no exit and a lift next to the enclose hallway she had come out of. She stepped onto the lift and was raised to the top of the hallway. She saw a platform on the other side of the room. She jumped and hovered over to it. There was a spring on the platform. She walked onto the spring and was catapulted into the air, landing in a hallway high above the entrance she had used. A gate with several enemies blocked her way. She destroyed the enemies and opened the gate, continuing down the hall. She went through several twisting hallways and chasm rooms; each filled with enemies, and came into a room with a really high hallway and two lifts in the corners of the room closest to the hallway entrance. One was all the way down; the other was halfway up. Amy walked onto the first lift, which raised her to the same height as the second lift. She jumped and hovered across to the second lift, which raised to the height of the hallway. Amy jumped and hovered across to the hallway and went into it. She walked down the passage and saw a gate up ahead, but no enemies on the other side. She noticed a missile placed on the ground and a big green button just behind it. She stepped on the button, causing the missile to launch and destroy the gate. Pleased with herself, she went through. The hallway wound this way and that, many empty cells lining the path. She finally made it to the end of the hallway, entering a small room filled with Hunters. They blasted the robots and the single Beetle hiding in the corner. A gate on the left side of the room lowered. On the other side was a passage blocked by several iron crates. Amy blasted the crates to smithereens with her cannon, walking through the space left behind. After walking down the long hallway, she came to the end, a gate guarded by two Hunters. Amy destroyed the Hunters and went through the opened gate. She was in a small room with a normal door too small for the Passion to go through. Right in front of her was the Goal Ring. Amy passed through the ring, ending the level.  
  
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A.)  
  
Amy hopped out of the walker and headed for the door. "Angel, you stay here and guard the walker. I'm going to find Shadow." Angel saluted and made a noise that seemed to mean agreement. Amy walked through the door, entering a less dangerous section of the base.  
  
And so ends Amy's first chapter. Did you like it? Leave a review if you did. Shadow will be back in the next chapter, so you can be reassured he's fine. See you soon! 


	4. Metal Harbor

To answer Maverick 1812's questions, this is an alternate reality and not a sequel. I have not made a Shadow Adventure 1 and I don't plan to. It would be a tad too confusing to do that. I mean, I can't really picture Robotnik running around doing all the levels Amy did in Sonic Adventure. Tails will not show up. However, I will tell you that in Shadow's previous adventure in this universe (Shadow Adventure 1) Tails took up the role of the fisherman. Sorry, but that's the only was he would have fit into the story. I might consider writing a story about Amy's creation, but I'm not sure yet. Sorry if I've disappointed you. Disclaimer: You already know what I own, okay?  
  
Shadow paced his cell. He had given up any attempt at escape hours ago. Instead of metal bars, which he could dig through easily, they had put up a force field to keep him in the cell. He had no idea why he had been captured, as he had been left in the cell for the last several hours. There had been no interrogation or explanation, just a dumping into the cell. He had already covered the walls with multiple figures by scratching into the metal with one of his quills. He had spent the first few hours solving math problems so complex that even Einstein would need the help of a calculator to deduce them. After that, he had managed to get around Einstein's theory of relativity and figure out how it was possible for him to move faster than the speed of light even though he should lose all of his mass by exceeding the light speed limit. But after figuring out that the egg came before the chicken, discovering that the answer to the great question of life, the universe, and everything was 42, and providing mathematical proof for the existence of God, he got bored. So he started drawing pictures of his friends. He started with Knuckles, then did Robotnik, Professor Big, that dead robot E-102 Gamma, and the weird two-tailed fisherman from his last adventure. After that, he drew an incredibly detailed picture of Amy. Then he did comedic renditions of his foes, Metal Shadow, a few badniks, and Snively. He got bored of that as well, and was now ransacking his brain in an attempt to find any trace of Scales in his memory. He was vexed by his inability to recall anything past his awakening by Robotnik, after he had been pulled from the capsule and the bullet had been removed from his head. He punched one of the walls. Why couldn't he remember? Why wouldn't the scar tissue in his brain heal and allow him to remember. He sighed and went back to pacing. He stopped, hearing some shouts, gunfire, and several thuds outside. The door into the small his room his cell was in opened. Shadow was astonished to see his savior. "Amy?" "Hi Shadow!" she said. "Amy, what are you doing here? How did you get through the security?" "I got an early birthday present from Dad. I think it'll come in handy." She walked closer, inches away from the force field. "So how are you? Did those GUN assholes hurt you in anyway?" "Well, I haven't really been tortured, if that's what you mean." "Why are you in here, anyway? I refuse to believe you committed a crime." Said Amy firmly. Shadow sighed. "If I committed a crime, I'm not aware of it. Look, Amy, can you get me out please? There's a weird lizard on the loose and-" "Lizard?" asked Amy, surprised. "Yes, a lizard. Do you know anything about it?" "I met Robotnik on the way in here. He said that he was on his way to bail you out when he ran into a bat, Snively, and a weird lizard." Shadow's eyes narrowed. "Snively! I should have known he was up to something! Amy, you've got to get me out of here, that lizard stole a Super Emerald! Who knows what Snively will do with that thing?" Amy paused. "If I let you out, will you marry me?" she said, joking. Shadow instantly said, "Yes, I will." Amy blinked. "W-what?" "I was actually planning on asking you on our date last night, but my arrest ruined everything. So yes Amy, I will marry you." Amy hesitated. "You're not just saying this because you want out, do you?" Shadow smirked. "Amy, we've been going out for years now. What do you think?" Amy nodded slowly and walked over to the control panel for the force field. She ran the card key she had stolen from one of the guards through the lock, deactivating the cell. Shadow walked out of the cell, looking relieved. He went over to Amy and gave her a little hug. "Thanks." A sudden siren going off ruined the nice moment. "What?" Amy slapped her head. "D'oh! I can't believe I forgot! This place is probably riddled with hidden cameras, they probably know you're loose! We gotta get out of here before they send in the heavy artillery!" "We'd better split up, we don't want to make it easy for them to catch us." Shadow said. "Robotnik is waiting at the south end of the island. We'll meet you there." They ran out into the hallway and started going down it in different directions. As she was about to reach an intersection, she turned around and yelled at the receding back of Shadow, "I love you!" "I love you too!" he called back. Amy got a broad smile on her face, and then she headed back to the Passion. Shadow exited the building and found himself on the docks.  
  
Stage 4: Metal Harbor. Mission: Escape from the military base.  
  
Shadow was on a metal platform rising from the water. Ahead of him were some dash panels leading to a ramp with a jump plate. Shadow ran over the dash panel, picking up speed and running over the jump panel, launching himself into the air. He landed on top of another metal platform that curved downwards. He ran down the slope, hitting a dash panel and going around a loop. After getting back on solid ground, he ran over another jump plate, launching himself onto a different platform. He was on top of a steep slope that led to a flat run and a covered portion of the road. Shadow ran down the hill, picking up speed. He dashed under the cover, hit an angled spring placed at the end of the path, and was launched to another platform. As he landed, various Beetles attacked, shooting lasers. Shadow wiped them out with multiple homing attacks. He saw another cover over the short section of platform ahead of him. He curled into a ball and bounced to the top of the metal cover. He saw a hovering Beetle to his right, floating between him and a big fuel tank with a spring on it. He flew into the Beetle with a Homing Attack, using another Homing Attack to get onto the tank. He ran onto the spring and was bounced onto a higher platform, with lots of huge crates and metal towers. The towers had several platforms between them, but there seemed to be no way onto them. Or was there? Shadow bounced to the top of tone of the crates and jumped from there to one of the tower platforms. He ran into one of the towers and grabbed onto a pulley, going up to the next level. He jumped off the pulley and ran across the platform, seeing a ramp that went up and off the platform. Shadow positioned himself behind the dash panels in front of the ramp and ran, zipping up the ramp and off the end. He landed on a small platform in the middle of the sea. A long line of Beetles turned towards him. He jumped into the air and used one Homing Attack after the other, going from Beetle to Beetle until he reached a platform with a pulley on it. He grabbed onto the pulley and was elevated through a tower to a platform facing another long chain of Beetles. Shadow jumped onto the platform and started homing across the chain, eventually landing on an aircraft carrier. As he started running along the surface of the great ship, Blue Eagle fighter planes swooped down, dropping bombs. Shadow darted from side to side, barely missing the explosives. After the bombing run was over, he kept going, reaching one of the garages on the carrier. He bounced up to the top of the garage, where he saw a platform sticking out. He jumped off of the platform, landing on the next garage. He bounced over to a platform adjacent to that garage, and started jumping across a series of platforms over the water, some of which moved back and forth, before finally reaching a small isolated road. He ran to the end of the road, where there was a spring. He hit the spring at the edge, launching himself onto a platform that went into a loop. Running across the dash panels ahead of him, Shadow ran through the loop, down a long path, and hit a spring. He was launched towards a fuel tank, where another spring bounced him towards a higher spring on a different fuel tank, which in the end launched him to the top of a hill. He ran down the hill, picking up speed, and ran off the jump plate at the end, hurtling onto a walkway leading to a tower. He ran down the walkway and was assaulted by a Hawk. He killed the Hawk and ran into the tower, grabbing onto a pulley. The pulley carried him up, where he jumped to another pulley, which took him to the top of a hill. He ran down the hill, going over dash panels and straight into two loops. After the second loop, he was launched by jump plates onto a fuel tank. He saw another fuel tank nearby and used his Homing Attack to jump across to it. He used the Homing Attack several times to get across many fuel tanks before being assaulted by a Hornet. Before it could launch its homing missiles, Shadow destroyed it with a Homing Attack, using another Homing Attack in midair to get onto a platform. In front of him was a gate too low to walk through. He somersaulted under the gate, right onto a set of dash panels, which launched him off of a ramp, and onto a low platform. Extending out of the platform's left side was a pad with a rocket on it. He grabbed onto the handle on the bottom of the rocket and was carried by it to a launch pad across the water. A huge missile was on the launch pad, and a spiraling pathway went up around the missile. He landed on a platform beneath the spiral ramp. There was a button and a spring on the platform. He could see a tall building on a platform on the other side of the harbor, but no way to reach it. There were no platforms or enemies of any kind he could use as stepping-stones. He looked up at the missile and had an idea. Chances were the button nearby launched the thing. If he was holding onto the missile when it launched, he could let go at a high enough altitude and drop to the top of the building. He pressed the button. A computerized voice said, "Missile launch in progress. Liftoff in 30.29.28." Shadow started moving. He hit the spring, launching onto the corkscrewing ramp. As the countdown kept going, he ran up the ramp, getting to the end, which was halfway up the missile. He looked around frantically and saw no way to grab onto the missile. He noticed a string of Beetles floating nearby. He Homing Attacked across the Beetles, coming to a higher platform on the other side. He saw another chain of Beetles, and Homing Attacked across them until he reached a platform with a spring on it. He hit the spring and was launched onto a platform near the very top of the missile. There was a spring facing a handle attached to the side of the missile. Shadow hit the spring and grabbed onto the handle. The countdown finished. The missile was fired, roaring up into the atmosphere. When the missile was right over the building he was aiming for, Shadow let go of the handle and fell, using his jets to slow his fall. He landed safely on top of the building. He was relieved until the panel beneath him collapsed, dropping him into a winding tunnel through the structure. Shadow was forced to board down the tunnel using the panel he had dislodged from the roof. After a few minutes of boarding, he came out into the fresh air again, on a platform full of Hunters. Before they could fire, Shadow blew up all the robots with a few somersaults, running down the path ahead of him. After several twists and turns along the path, he reached a platform with a switch on it and nothing else. He looked to his right and saw the Goal Ring hovering over the water, and the jungle right past it. He was almost at the end! He hit the switch, and a rocket appeared before him. He grabbed onto the rocket and blasted off, passing through the Goal Ring.  
  
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A.)  
  
As the rocket blasted through the jungle, Shadow let go, landing on an island in the middle of the water. He looked around and saw that most of the jungle on the island was actually partially submerged. Since he couldn't swim, this could prove to be a problem. There were some large tree roots nearby he could walk away on, so he seemed fine. He was about to walk over to the closest root when he heard something land on a different root. He turned around and saw Scales.  
  
What's going to happen next? I smell a confrontation. Tell me what you thought of this chapter and stay tuned for the next one. 


	5. Green Forest

Hi! Thanks to Maverick for reviewing. To keep from going crazy, I will keep writing. Now to continue where we left off. Disclaimer: I only own Scales and Angel and Amy's plane.  
  
"You again." Shadow growled. "Shadow? What are you doing here of all places?" Scales asked. "I got arrested. Would you happen to have anything to do with that?" he asked suspiciously. Scales shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm only here to help get more Super Emeralds." Shadow glared at her. "Really? Why do you need the Emeralds, anyway? And why are you working for Snively? He's pure evil!" Scales sighed. "I know Snively's evil, Shadow. But I need his help. It's the only way I can fulfill my mission." "What mission?" Scales shook her head. "Sorry, but I can't tell you that. Or why I need the Emeralds. Look, when this is all over, I promise I'll tell you everything, what I'm doing, how we know each other, your forgotten past, okay?" She looked uneasy. "Shadow, I apologize but I really have to go. I can't stay here much longer." "Why? Too scared to fight me?" Shadow asked, instantly regretting those words. Scales' eyes narrowed. "You know, I think I just got a little more time." She smiled a little wistfully. "You know, this'll be just like our old sparring sessions. Too bad we never did find out which of us was stronger. Maybe now's the chance to find out." She leaped off the root, landing on the island. "Since I can sense no Chaos Emerald on you, it would be unfair for me to use my own Chaos powers. I will only use my normal attacks. I promise you one thing else, old friend. I will not kill you." She started towards him.  
  
SCALES  
  
Scales ran at Shadow. He jumped over her and hit her with a Homing Attack. She grunted and spun around, smacking him with her spiked tail. As he reeled back, she rushed over and started hitting him repeatedly with punches and kicks, drawing a little blood. As she threw him away, Shadow got up and rolled into her with a somersault. She was knocked back a few steps. She jumped into the air and hit Shadow with a Homing Kick. When she tried to hit him with another Homing Kick, Shadow jumped, deflecting the attack. She bounced off and tried again. He deflected her and tried his own Homing Attack. She used his own strategy and deflected him with a jump. He backed away from her, trying to find a weakness. Scales somersaulted towards him. Shadow jumped over her and hit her with a Homing Attack from behind when she uncurled. It struck the red dome on her back. She stumbled a moment, then turned around, looking angrier than before. Shadow smiled to himself, thinking he had found a weakness of some kind. The strange lizard surprised him again by curling into a ball and spinning in place. Spikes shot out from concealed pockets in her body and she rolled towards him in a dangerous spindash. Shadow jumped out of the way, and Scales almost rolled off the edge of the island. She uncurled, her spikes retracting, allowing Shadow to Homing Attack her from behind again. Right before he hit her, Scales spun around, knocking him away with her tail. As he fell on the ground, she hit him in the chest with a Homing Kick, then whacked him with her tail again. She waited patiently as Shadow got to his feet. "Ready to stop?" she asked. "No way." She smiled. "I was hoping you would keep going." She swiped at him with her claws. Shadow ducked under the swing and delivered an uppercut to her chin, followed by a roundhouse kick that knocked her off her feet. He bounced onto her before she could get up, causing a little damage. She backflipped suddenly, knocking Shadow away and landing upright. He somersaulted towards her. She jumped over him and whacked him with her tail as he got up. Shadow tried to hit her with a Homing Attack and was deflected. Scales curled up into a ball and started spinning again. Shadow ran over and hit her with a Roundhouse Kick before the spikes sprouted; knocking her out of the spindash before it even started. He hit her with another roundhouse kick at the exact second she swung her tail around, and both were knocked back. They stopped for a moment, panting. When they caught their breath, they were about to start the battle anew when a loud beeping could be heard. "Oh, hold on, I've got a call." Said Scales. She tapped the side of her head, activating a small comm unit. "Yeah, what is it doc?" Dr. Snively's voice came on. "Scales, what are you doing?! The island's going to blow up in eight minutes! Where are the Super Emeralds?!" Shadow's eyes widened. "Blow up!?" Scales switched of her comm unit. "Yeah, the island's going to blow up. That's kind of why I had to go when you challenged me to the fight. I suggest that you get off the island by any means possible before it's too late." With that, she turned and ran away, jumping onto one of the roots and disappearing into the jungle. Shadow cursed. "Amy and Robotnik don't know about this! I've got to get to them before the island goes up!" He ran for one of the roots and jumped on, running up it and going into a tunnel carved through one of the huge trees.  
  
Stage 5: Green Forest. Mission: Escape from the island in 8 minutes.  
  
Shadow ran down a large wooden ramp above the water, surrounded by foliage. He ran as fast as he could, trying to beat the clock he knew was ticking down somewhere. He ran down the ramp and into a half pipe, following the curve of the path and moving too fast to fall into the water. The half pipe leveled out into a straight run, ending in a jump plate. He launched from the jump plate, landing on a big platform. He saw a tunnel straight ahead and some platforms to his left. There were also some moss- covered logs. He ran into the tunnel and was nearly flattened by a Rhino Spike. He somersaulted into the tank, destroying it. He kept going and found another Rhino Spike patrolling a shallow pool of water flowing into a small cranny. He killed the Rhino and kept moving, soon exiting the tunnel. He was on a fenced balcony overlooking the water. Across the water, on a nearby tree, was a platform. It was too far away to jump to, or so he thought until he saw a jump plate. He ran onto it and was propelled over to the platform across the water. A Hunter dropped from a hiding place and fired at him. Shadow destroyed the machine with a roundhouse kick and looked around. He saw a platform a little higher up the tree and across from him. He Homing Attacked onto the platform and saw a spring. He jumped on the spring and was launched into the air, where he grabbed hold of a vine. He used the vine to swing around the tree a few times, until he saw where he had to go next. He let go of the vine and was thrown onto a high path. He ran down the steep slope and into the following half pipe, moving away from the spiked balls imbedded in the path. The half pipe corkscrewed a bit and finally ended up in a straight run, ending in a jump plate. He launched off the plate, grabbing onto a vine. He swung around the tree it was on a couple of times, then let go, flinging himself towards a vine on a different tree. After swinging around on that vine, he was thrown onto a platform leading into a tunnel. He ran into the tunnel and was immediately surrounded by a bunch of Rhino Spikes. As the tanks came towards him, he waited until they were all clustered around him, then wiped them out with a single roundhouse kick. He continued through the tunnel, coming out on top of a hill. He ran down the hill, through the half pipe with spiked balls after it, and over a dash panel that sent him through a loop. After going through the loop, he hit a jump panel and landed on a platform with a hole in it. He dropped through the hole, landing in a large multi-tiered room inside the tree trunk. A few Hunters ran towards him. He quickly wiped them out, then ran onto a dash panel, off a small ramp, and onto the second tier of the room. He ran on a second set of dash panels and off a small ramp on that tier, hitting a spring on the wall and bouncing to the top level of the room. He walked to the edge of the top tier and saw a Beetle dropping bombs nearby. He hit the Beetle with a Homing Attack, used another Homing Attack to hit the one behind it, and one last Homing Attack to get to a platform on the other side of the room. He ran into the tunnel on the platform, coming out of the tree. He ran forward and onto a spring, launching himself into a vine. He swung around on the vine, letting go and landing on a platform with a partially hollowed-out tree. He dropped off the edge of the platform, close to the tree, and landed on another platform below with a spring on it. He jumped onto the spring, launching himself onto a vine hanging from a nearby tree. He swung around the tree and let go, landing on a platform with lots of flowers and a moss-covered log. He saw a platform floating in the air and jumped onto it. He saw two more platforms, each higher up. The second was too high to jump to from his current position, so he bounced up. He had to do the same thing to get onto the third platform, and from there he saw a platform on the side of the tree pretty far away, and two Beetles floating in the air. He Homing Attacked the two Beetles, landing on the platform. He ran through a tunnel on the platform, coming out on the other side of the tree, atop a steep hill. He ran down the hill, through the following spike-lined half pipe, ran onto a dash plate and a 360-degree loop, finally landing on a large platform with many bushes and a spring. Seeing a spring, he ran towards it and sprung into the air, ricocheting off of another spring and landing on a platform with a third spring. He launched himself from the third spring, landing on another platform with a spring. He jumped off this spring, landing on a path with a few moss-covered logs, plenty of plants, and a few enemies. Shadow ran down the path, killing every enemy he saw, and going through a series of archways. Once through the archways, he was on top of one more hill. He ran down the hill, along another half pipe with spiked balls, through two loops, hit a spring at the end of the path, grabbed onto a vine, swung around the tree trunk and landed on a long stretch of land leading to a tree tunnel with the Goal Ring visible on the other side. Shadow started on the path and was shocked when the thing started rumbling and falling apart, sinking into the water below. Shadow jumped from section to section of the crumbling span, hitting a spring on the last section and landing in the mouth of the tunnel just as the whole thing finally collapsed and vanished into the clear depths of the flooded jungle. Shadow ran through the tunnel and stopped in front of the Goal Ring, which was on top of a short hill. A small bay with a single dock and a pink and red plane could be seen at the bottom of the hill. Shadow ran through the Goal Ring.  
  
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A.)  
  
Shadow ran down the hill and onto the dock, knowing there wasn't much time left. Angel spotted Shadow and started making noises, trying to alert Amy and Robotnik. Amy looked up and saw him. "Shadow! We're over here!" she yelled, waving to him. Shadow ran up to the Storming Heart III. "Guys, there's no time to talk, the island's about to explode!" There were gasps of shock all around. "Oh my. Let's go, quickly!" said Robotnik, scrambling to get into one of the seats in the plane. He had to get a little help from Shadow and Amy to actually climb into the plane, and even then he had a bit of trouble fitting into the seat. "A bit tight, but I can manage it." He insisted. Shadow climbed into the seat in front of Robotnik, and Amy climbed into the cockpit. "Everyone buckle your seatbelts, we're going top speed!" she said. "My seatbelt doesn't reach." Complained Robotnik. "Too bad! Here we go!" The plane lifted off with its VTOL jets, then shot out to sea. As they left the small dock, an explosion went off in the jungle. And another, and another. Soon, several explosions had gone off, and one last one occurred in the armory at the west side of the island. With this last explosion, an incredible detonation went off, wiping out all remaining life on the island and completely destroying the harbor, the jungle and the base. As a shockwave from the explosion caused a big tidal, wave, our heroes could only think about how relieved they were to have gotten off in time.  
  
And so the Prison island portion of our story is finally finished. What will come next? Well, I can promise you one thing, I won't be doing the Pumpkin Hill or Aquatic Mine chapters. Why? I really have no idea how to do those chapters, I know nothing of the layout for those levels. I'm sorry. But look on the bright side, this will give the Dark and Hero stories an equal number of levels, won't it? So I'm sorry if you're disappointed by the loss of two Knuckles levels, but they were sort of filler anyway. The plot gets more intense in the next chapter, so stay tuned! 


	6. Mission Street

Hello all! Once again, I apologize for not giving Knuckles the Aquatic Mine or Pumpkin Hill levels, but it means less complications for me to figure out, like when things happen and stuff. Please don't be mad at me. Here we go, with Amy's next level and where more plot is revealed. Oh, and I thought I would explain a few things. First of all, Shadow knows all about the Chaos Emeralds and his ability to use them. There are still only seven Chaos Emeralds, but the Super Emeralds are a little stronger and not centered on Angel Island like in Sonic 3 and Knuckles. The Super Emeralds are scattered like the Chaos Emeralds are. Shadow was found with an Emerald, and he has only lost it once before, to Chaos. The seven combined Chaos Emeralds don't have enough power for Snively's plan, so he's using the Super Emeralds instead. Also, Shadow believes he cannot use a Super Emerald like he would his normal Chaos Emerald due to his attempts during his first adventure on Angel Island. Because of this he's stuck as a powerless, albeit strong hedgehog because GUN took his Chaos Emerald away. One other thing. Here, Big is not an idiot. A little weird, but not an idiot. This is why he is a good scientist and was able to make Amy. I hope that clears things up. Disclaimer: I own Angel, Amy's walker, Scales, Devil, and Eggchao.  
  
Day 2, 8:00 PM  
  
After their escape from Prison Island, our friends have returned to Shadow and Robotnik's home, Eggman Industries. Shadow's Chaos Dark Chao, Devil, was very happy to see his master home and safe, as was evident by the fact that he completely refused to let go of Shadow's leg. Devil was the same size as Angel, with a mostly black body, purple feet, a red crescent mark on his chest, red hands and spike knuckles, two horns, yellow eyes, a blue flame over his head and two black and red demon wings. Shadow once again tried to pry off his happy Chao. "Come on Devil, I'm happy to see you too, but you've been holding onto me for the last hour. Why don't you go play with Angel or something?" At the name of Amy's Chao, Devil let go of Shadow and ran off to find Angel. "Thank you, I think." He continued on his way to dinner, where he had been going in the first place. Amy and Robotnik were waiting for him. "Ah, so at last you're here! For the fastest thing in the world, it takes you a while to get to dinner." Joked Robotnik. Shadow frowned. "I can't run with an adorable little Chao gripping my leg." He sat down and started eating. "So, any news on this Scales lizard? Anything at all?" Robotnik shook his head. "Sorry Shadow. I checked all the government records I could find, but the only clues I could find lie on GUN's database. Which, unfortunately, I am unable to access." "I called my dad, and he's happy for our engagement," said Amy, changing the subject. "He'd be happy to pay for the wedding." Robotnik stuttered. "Wedding? Shouldn't we be worrying about more important things right now? Shadow, you agree with me don't you?" Shadow nodded. "Absolutely doctor. Amy, we need to figure out who to invite!" "Ooh, good point! Who do you think should come?" asked Amy. "Well," Shadow started, ignoring Robotnik's protests and complaints that they should be trying to figure out what Snively was up to. "I think Knuckles should definitely come." "Oh, and how about those birds Robotnik helped back in the Chaos incident?" Amy suggested. "Perfect. We should also keep all of the reporters out of the church. Don't want them messing up the ceremony." Shadow said. Robotnik pounded the table, getting their attention. "I am sorry to interrupt, but don't you think we should be trying to put a stop to Snively's plans before he implements whatever he's working on?" Shadow shrugged. "We don't know what base he'll be using, what he's trying to plan, or when he's going to do it, I will admit that. However, we don't really have to worry." "Not worry?" asked Robotnik, shocked. "Yeah, when he's ready to unveil his latest masterpiece, he'll let the whole world know at once." Said Amy. "And judging from our numerous experiences with him, I estimate that he should be making his big speech in the next five minutes." Added Shadow. Robotnik frowned. "That's preposterous, what makes you think he won't break from tradition for once?" A television screen lowered from the ceiling. It flickered on, revealing Robotnik's Chao, Eggchao. He was a Neutral Chaos Chao, with white skin, blue hands, green eyes, and a glowing ball of light floating over the point coming out of his head. He was in the computer core. He looked anxious, and started typing something on the keyboard in front of him, causing words to appear on the screen. "Doctor, come quick! Every widespread broadcasting system on the planet is receiving the same message, and it looks like Snively's work!" "See?" said Shadow, a little smugly. Robotnik scowled and headed off for the computer core, followed by Shadow and Amy.  
  
All over the world, the same message was played as every television flickered to life, every station and communications satellite temporarily overridden. Dr. Snively stood proudly against a blue CGI background; his symbol, a cartoonish picture of his face, in the back. Words flying around behind him, such as "Snively Empire", and "I am great, I am wise, I am genius, I am not short, I am not ugly, I am not bald, I do not have a huge nose, I am Emperor." Snively grinned evilly. "Greetings, people of Earth, I am Dr. Snively, soon to be ruler of the greatest empire in the history of the planet! Namely, all of you little countries will belong to me! Muhahahahahaha!" He paused, then continued. "I am transmitting live from the space colony ARK, which will be my headquarters in the new era. I have attempted to conquer the world many times now, but this time I will succeed, for I have an incredible weapon at my disposal. Don't believe me? Well then, perhaps a little demonstration is in order." The shot of Snively changed to show a live broadcast from a commandeered satellite above the world, allowing all that were watching to see what was happening. Up in space, a massive brown spherical planetoid orbited the world. The south pole of the sphere started glowing green. Green cracks appeared all along the planetoid's bottom hemisphere, and then the whole thing exploded, revealing the planetoid's true form. Now visible through the large cloud of small asteroids that was all that remained of the southern hemisphere was a flat metal surface on the underside of the remaining hemisphere. Towers and structures shot up from the surface, a veritable city. In the center of it all was a great conical needle. The planetoid, or should I say colony, turned to face the moon. The needle split into four segments, opening wide like a great flower, but without lots and lots of petals. The splitting needle revealed a great hollow space, and a device in the very center that looked sharp and very dangerous. Bolts of blue lightning shot from the points of the four segments, meeting on the tip of the device in the center. The device glowed and fired a massive beam at the moon, visible to all looking up at the night sky. The beam struck the moon, cracking its surface. There was a massive explosion, as half the moon disintegrated. The screen changed back to Snively and the blue background. "Pretty impressive, huh? And I will do the same thing to one of the seven continents, probably America, if you do not surrender total global control to me by midnight tomorrow!" Snively vanished and was replaced by a timer as incessant maniacal laughter started playing over and over. The timer began at 28 hours and started counting down.  
  
In the lab's computer core, our heroes had to start thinking about what to do. "The space colony ARK? That name sounds familiar." Mused Robotnik. "Well, now we know what he's up to. He's probably powering that gun with Super Emeralds." Said Shadow. "Well, let's get going! We have to find Snively's base!" said Amy. "What do you mean? We already know he's on the ARK, why would he have a base?" asked Robotnik, confused. "Snively always has a base, even when he's working somewhere else. If he didn't have a secret base for this latest plan, then how would he be getting supplies and the like up there? It's likely that if we can find his base, we can find a way to get up there and stop him." Shadow explained. "Oh, I see." Said Robotnik. Amy noticed a blinking button on one of the room's computers. "Uh, guys, what's this blinking light mean?" Eggchao ran over and pressed the button. A screen came on, revealing a view from one of the outside security cameras. There were GUN troops and robots heading for the front gate. "Oh dear! We've been found out!" said Robotnik. "Can we fight our way out?" asked Amy. Shadow frowned. "There are so many of them, it's possible but I'm not really sure it's doable. Besides, they could catch us if we all take them on." Amy got an idea. "Hey guys, I've got an idea! How about Angel and I rush out there in the walker and surprise them? They'll be expecting you Shadow, but not a big mech!" "Are you sure you can handle all those troops?" asked Shadow, concerned. "Hey, I got into their base without much problem, didn't I? I think I can handle these goons while you guys get some supplies and make a run for it." Said Amy. "We'll meet you at the airport." Said Shadow. Amy nodded and left the room. "Why the airport?' asked Robotnik, confused. "I'll tell you when we get there. So, what do we need other than food?" asked Shadow. "Find Devil and anything else you think we'll need. I have a few things of my own to pick up. Get going Shadow, we probably don't have much time." Shadow nodded and left. Robotnik turned to Eggchao. "Eggchao, I'm going to get some things of mine. Please find anything you can about the ARK in my database and print it out. Meet me with the printouts in the main lobby." Eggchao saluted and got to work on the computer.  
  
Stage 7: Mission Street. Mission: Elude military pursuit.  
  
Amy and Angel burst through the front gates, scattering the surprised troops. She started heading down the street. The soldiers rallied for backup to go after the walker and headed into the lab, not knowing they wouldn't get very far. Amy walked down the street a bit, turned the corner, and entered a car tunnel. She walked through it, glad that the military activity had temporarily shut down the traffic, and came out into the highway. As she started forward, Blue Eagles flew overhead and dropped bombs on the road, causing a section of it to crumble and fall apart just as Amy was about to step on it. She hovered over the gap, hopped over the barricade on the other side, and kept going. In front of her was the next section of road, suspended too high to jump to. A large weight went up and down, looking like it would crush her. When the weight was at its lowest, Amy jumped onto the top. When it raised, she jumped off, onto the road above. The road went a ways ahead then was elevated out of reach again. A series of floating metal pillars slowly moved up and down by the wall, forming a series of moving stairs. She jumped and hovered from pillar to pillar, soon reaching the top. She walked up and along the road, following its turns and avoiding some more bombing efforts from GUN. She reached a point where the road made a sharp turn to the left, but cages blocked it. Noticing a couple of missiles pointing conveniently at the cages, Amy walked over and stepped on their launch buttons, firing the missiles at the cages and destroying them. As Amy started walking onto the span of bridge where the cages were, GUN fighters blew up the path, nearly causing her to fall. Her boosters saved her, and she made it across to the next section of road. After making another sharp turn and heading along the span of the highway/bridge, Amy almost fell again as GUN blew out another section of bridge. She hovered across and walked over to the next elevated section of road, which also had elevator pillars in front of it. She hopped up the pillars and went down the road, soon coming to a gap. She hovered across it and was almost killed when the Blue Eagles once more blew out a span of bridge. As she hovered across, she started to get angry and thought that the next time those fighters made a run at her, she would blast them out of the sky, human or not. She continued forward and found a big falling weight blocking her path. She considered running while the weight was in the air, but then saw the metal pillars next to the weight's shadow. She jumped over the pillars and continued unobstructed. The road curved up and to the right, with some more metal pillars just off the bridge's railing. She ignored the pillars and walked to the top of the road, which looped to go over the path she had walked across. She hovered over the gap ahead of her and kept on going. A little further down the road, the path was blocked off and made a sharp turn downwards. As she started to walk towards the slope, the Blue Eagles roared towards her. Angel locked on to the fighters and blasted them, destroying the planes. Unfortunately, one of the wrecked planes careened towards the slope ahead of them and crashed into it, totally destroying the span, which was far too large for Amy to hover over. Amy groaned, then noticed a metal pillar next to her, off the bridge. She noticed a dynamite pack strapped to it. She aimed for the pack and shot at it, blowing the pack and knocking off the top half of the metal pillar, making a bridge across the gap. Amy jumped and hovered onto the bottom half of the pillar, then carefully jumped onto the fallen top half, walking across it and onto the stable road. She walked forward, going through a tunnel at the end of the road. She came out onto a city street. She went down the building-lined path, following the street signs and looking for the airport. Finally, she reached a square in front of the airport entrance, with the Goal Ring hovering in the middle. As she walked towards the Goal Ring, a dozen Hunters jumped out of their hiding places, surrounding her and aiming their guns at the walker. "Wait! I surrender!" Amy said quickly. The Hunters raised their weapons. While Amy had distracted them, Angel had spun the laser blaster in a circle, targeting all the robots at once. She fired, obliterating the machines. "Nice shooting, partner." Angel chirped happily. Amy passed through the Goal Ring.  
  
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A)  
  
Amy looked around the parking lot, trying to find the guys. She spotted them hiding under an overhang, near a manhole. She walked over to them. Shadow and Robotnik had taken Eggchao, Devil, and a large backpack with them for their escape. "Hey guys! Did you get out okay?" Shadow nodded. "The distraction you caused allowed us to get through the unguarded escape tunnels. We took the Chao because we didn't want GUN to do anything nasty to them." "I had to take a little longer because I thought we would need more than food." Explained Robotnik. "Like what?" Amy asked. Robotnik pulled off the backpack and opened it. He pulled out a few sheets of paper. "I took all the data I could find on the space colony ARK, including maps. I'll explain its history later." He put away the papers and took out a few DVD cases. "I brought some movies we could watch in case we're near a VCR." He said. He put back the cases and took out two identical yellow Super Emeralds. "I also brought the Super Emerald I got for my last Nobel Prize, and the fake Super Emerald I made when I was bored a few weeks ago." The hedgehogs looked at the fake and real Emeralds, interested. "Why did you bring the fake along with the real one, doctor?" Shadow asked. "I thought the Super Emerald might come in handy. For one thing, I believe it'll supercharge Amy's engine and make her walker stronger and faster." The doctor said, handing the real Emerald to Amy. Eager, she took the gem, got out of the walker and opened up the engine panel, looking for a place to put it. "As for the fake, if we are correct and Snively is using the Super Emeralds to fuel that cannon he used to blow up half the moon, then the fake can be used to stop it from firing again. I have an idea of how to do that, but let's save it until we actually get to Snively's base. Speaking of which, how are we going to do that, Shadow?" Shadow started. "It's easy. First, we go to Washington D.C." "Why?" asked Robotnik. "Oh, I know why!" said Amy; installing the Super Emerald and closing the walker's engine hatch. "Snively has a huge ego and is pretty impatient. He'll be calling the world leaders every hour or so to see if they're going to surrender yet. If we can find the president, we might have a chance of eavesdropping on Snively's call and finding out where his base is!" "Oh, so that's why you asked me to bring several thousand dollars." Robotnik said to Shadow. Just then, the nearby manhole popped open, and an incredibly weary and not too clean Knuckles crawled out. He groaned, looked up, and saw the others. "Shadow? Amy? Robotnik? Whoa, I can't believe I came all the way to San Francisco!" "Knuckles? What were you doing in the sewers?" asked Shadow. "Well, it all started when a female bat stole the Master Emerald!" the others exchanged surprised glances at this, wondering if this bat was the same one that Robotnik had seen with Snively. "I chased her all the way to Egypt, where Snively tried to steal the Emerald! I stopped, him, but the thing broke again. After Snively flew off, the bat and I went separate ways, each trying to find the pieces. She seemed to be heading after Snively for some reason. I found three of them in a weird canyon, and they transported me to some weird haunted wasteland in a different section of Egypt. After I found three more pieces, the Emeralds transported me to a flooded mine somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. That place was haunted as well," he added. "But after I fought off the ghosts and collected the three shards there, I expected to be transported to the last three pieces, which I assumed that bat lady had by then." "So, what happened?" asked Amy. "Nothing! The pieces wouldn't warp me anywhere. The only way that could be possible is if the bat was off the planet by then, but that's impossible, isn't it?" said Knuckles. "I wouldn't be so sure." Muttered Robotnik. "Anyway, since the pieces didn't warp me anywhere, and I couldn't dig my way out of the mines, and since the entrance was sealed up, I had to try to swim my way out through an old geological tunnel. There was barely any air down there, but the Emerald's pieces provided me with oxygen. I've been swimming for the last day and a half, and ended up right in the San Francisco sewers! Weird, huh?" Knuckles finished. "Not nearly as weird as what we've been going through." Said Shadow. "Oh really? Try me." Said Knuckles. They told him everything that had been happening over the last two days, from Shadow's arrest to the destruction of the moon. "Okay, I take that back. You have been going through a weirder time." He thought a moment. "Hey, you think that bat who stole the Master Emerald might be the same bat Robotnik saw?" "It's possible, if this bat ran after Snively like you said. She may have joined him in an attempt to find more pieces of the Master Emerald." Said Shadow. "In that case, I'll come with you guys. If I run into that Rouge again, I'm gonna show her not to mess with the Guardian of Angel Island!" Knuckles said angrily. "Rouge?" asked Amy. "Who's Rouge?' "Oh, she's the thief." Said Knuckles. "So you're on a first name basis now?" joked Shadow. "Hey!" yelled Knuckles. "It makes sense, the only way a woman could get his attention away from that big jewel would be to steal it." Robotnik added. Knuckles growled, and looked like he was going to punch their lights out, but Amy stopped them, reminding them all they only had a limited amount of time, so had to get moving. They headed into the airport, got Knuckles cleaned up, and purchased tickets for the next DC flight. After going through a lot of hassle when they tried to get the Passion through baggage, they finally made it to the gate, where they got on the plane after a couple of hours' wait. From there, it was only a six-hour flight before they reached DC.  
  
So ends another chapter. I'm sorry if I'm rushing things, but I'm afraid I'm also going to have to cut both Kart levels from the Hero and Dark stories. I don't really know how to write them, just like I didn't know how to write the last two Knuckles levels, but I promise the story itself will keep progressing, and I will do the remainder of Knuckles' levels without hassle. So please relax and enjoy the slightly hastened scene in Washington, next chapter. 


	7. Hidden Base

Hi once again. Like I said, I apologize for rushing things a little. I don't think I'll be skipping anything else after this one. Enjoy! Disclaimer: I ain't saying nothing.  
  
Day X, 8:55 AM  
  
After a long plane flight (made even longer by Knuckles' embarrassing antics, since he had never been on an airplane before) our heroes made it to Washington, capital of the free world. After getting some sleep in one of BWI's lounges, Robotnik had hacked into the White House computers (Yes folks, he can get into the White House files but not GUN. What does this tell you about this military organization?) and found the president was currently taking a drive in a limousine. The limousine was equipped with a full satellite and TV receiving system, allowing the president to watch broadcasts during a long drive. It was likely that Snively would make a call at 9:00, so they had to move fast. After receiving a frequency-locator device jury-rigged from paperclips, a digital watch, a cigarette lighter and several other pieces of small metallic scrap by Robotnik, Amy turned the Passion into a car and took Shadow onto Route 101 to track down the limousine. The Super Emerald in the engine made the car faster than before, allowing them to quickly catch up with the president's limousine but nearly caused a few accidents. As the Passion passed the black limousine, Shadow jumped out and landed on the roof, dropping in through the open sunroof and landed in the car, startling the president and the aide in the car. "Oh, I'm sorry for my entrance Madame President, but it is extremely urgent that I talk to you." President Chao-lin, an angelic Hero Chao in a suit with a tie, signaled her aide, who opened a laptop in front of the Chao. Yes, the president of the United States is a Chao. Hey, we've had far worse presidents. She's much better than most human politicians are! Chao-lin started typing on the laptop. A voice software activated, reading what she wrote out loud. "Shadow the Hedgehog! It's been a while since I last saw you. I heard you were arrested. What's that all about?" "You mean you don't know why I was arrested?" Shadow asked, disappointed. "Sorry, but no. GUN may be government funded, but their business is their business. I can't snoop around in their affairs without permission." Chao-lin replied. Shadow sighed. "Oh well. Madame President, are you expecting a call from Snively?" Chao-lin scowled and kept typing. "Unfortunately, yes I am. Why?' "I'm going to try to tap into his frequency when he calls. I've brought a device that will follow his signal back to its source, locating his secret hideout so I can go and stop him." Shadow explained. Chao-lin smiled and typed something. "Go right ahead. But stand to the side of the TV when he calls, that way he won't see you." "Right!" Shadow walked over to the big TV and stood next to it, hooking up the device Robotnik had made to the electronics next to the TV. A minute or two later, the TV came on and Snively's ugly face could be seen on it. Stone walls could be seen behind him. "Ah, President Chao-lin! It's been, how long? An hour or so? Yes, it's been such a long hour since we last spoke, hasn't it?" "Get to the point, Snively." Typed Chao-lin. "Yes, of course. Are you ready to surrender yet?" asked Snively, sounding a little hopeful. Chao-lin sighed. "Snively, I've already told you thirteen times no! I'm not going to give in, no matter how many times you call me. And I sincerely hope my fellow leaders are doing the same. Now stop calling me, I despise the sight of you. Your face scared my little girl this morning when she turned on the television to watch Saturday morning cartoons and you were calling through the TV at the exact same time." Snively grimaced. "I don't care how many times you say no, I'll still win! We'll see whether the other nations will still refuse to surrender after I blow the U.S.A. into the D.S.A. at midnight!" "The what?" asked Chao-lin, confused. "D.S.A., the Disassembled States of America! You have fifteen hours left, Chao-lin! Ahahahahahahaha!" He cut the transmission. Chao-lin looked at Shadow. "Did you get what you needed?" she typed. Shadow looked at the device. "Yes, it says he was transmitting from a set of coordinates in.Egypt! Thank you for letting me help, Madame President." "No problem. After all, you've saved my country on more than one occasion. By the way, perhaps I can help you get where you're going." Said Chao-lin. "Oh? How?" asked Shadow. "How would you like to get to Egypt in style, on Air Force One?" she asked. Shadow gaped. "Madame President, please, I couldn't-" "Oh go on, it's the least I can do to help you. I don't want this country blown up! I'll call ahead and get you your flight. The plane will be waiting at Dulles airport. Hurry, there are only five hours left to save the world!" Chao-lin typed. Shadow nodded. "Thank you, President Chao-lin. I'll try to finish the job before then." He walked to the center of the room, then paused. "Oh, and you can be sure I'll vote to reelect you." He jumped out of the sunroof, leaping off of the car roof and landing behind Amy. She drove off, heading back to BWI to pick up the others. "Such a nice hedgehog." Chao-lin typed. She quickly set up the arrangements for the flight to Egypt, then sat back and relaxed, enjoying the drive at last. The aide interrupted her from her relaxation. "Madame President, we're getting a call from our agent." Chao-lin jumped in her seat and frantically typed, "What are you waiting for?! Put her on!"  
  
Our heroes got to Dulles airport without much trouble, got the Passion/Storming Heart III loaded into the aircraft, and took off on the long flight to Egypt. Ten hours later, they arrived in Cairo. Rather than renting a car, they flew out of the airport in the Storming Heart III. (It was impossible to fit everyone in the plane, so Knuckles had to hang on desperately to a wing while the other two Chao were wedged in beside Robotnik. Angel and Amy were the only ones comfortably seated, since Shadow was right in front of Robotnik. After flying uneventfully over Route 280 and an area Knuckles identified as the place where he had found Master Emerald shards 4-6, they reached the coordinates Robotnik's device had indicated, a pyramid in the middle of a sea of quicksand. Knuckles gazed among the great expanse of ruins and shook his head. "The desecration of such an ancient and sacred place, it's horrible." He said. "What do you mean? Time wore these ruins away, not raiders." Said Robotnik. "No, I'm talking about how Snively has pasted his face everywhere you look, it's horrible." Knuckles explained. This was true. Snively had carved and painted his logo on nearly every building around the pyramid. Many statues had had their heads ripped off and replaced with images of Snively. It was disgusting. "The pyramid entrance is no doubt guarded by plenty of traps and robots. One of us will have to go in there and find the entrance, clearing out the traps along the way." Said Shadow. "I'll do it!" said Amy. "Are you sure? It looks dangerous." Said Knuckles. "Angel and I can do it." Said Amy. "I'll wipe out the opposition in front of us and make a path to the entrance so all you guys can get through safely!" "I think she can do it." Said Robotnik. Shadow nodded. "Amy, go ahead. Have some fun, blow up Snively's robots, but don't go in without us, okay?" "Okay!" Amy started walking towards the ruins in the Passion. "Don't you think she'll be in trouble?" asked Knuckles. Shadow shook his head. "No, she'll be fine. Climbing over the wreckage of anything that ticks her off will be difficult." He affirmed.  
  
Stage 7: Hidden Base. Mission: Find the entrance into the hidden base.  
  
Amy and Angel were in the start of the ruins, an open square. A few urns were in the room's corners, and the path was ahead through an opening in the wall. Amy went through the opening, dropping onto a platform bridge rising from the quicksand. She walked across the bridge and onto a platform. A Hawk swooped down and shot at her. She blasted the Hawk, then jumped onto a fallen red pillar that lay across the quicksand. She walked across the pillar, seeing a tall platform nearby. She hovered across the gap, landing on the platform. Ahead of her was a large platform held aloft by a pillar with a few dynamite packs strapped to it. Angel locked onto the packs and fired, blowing the explosives and dropping the platform to Amy's level. She hovered onto it, walked over the platform, and was faced with a larger ruin with a stone door with Snively's face carved into it blocking her way. She blasted the door several times, breaking it and entering the next room. There was another Snively door at the other end of the room, which she destroyed and passed through as well. After blasting through half a dozen rooms with Snively doors, she came into a hallway with another Snively door at the end. She destroyed it and exited the hallway, ending up in another room with a Snively door on the left. She destroyed the door and went through, back into the open desert. She was on a dead end ledge. Below her, in the quicksand, were a series of platforms. She jumped off the ledge and hovered to the platform below. She hovered to the next one, and the one after that, reaching a pulley. She grabbed onto the pulley with a robotic arm installed in the walker and was elevated. She jumped off the pulley and hovered to another one, which took her to the top of a pillar. She jumped and hovered onto the pillar, and was confronted by a dozen Hawks. Angel and Amy took out the Hawks with some fast shooting, and hovered to the pillar ahead of them. Straight ahead was another big platform on a pillar with dynamite packs. Angel blew up the explosives, dropping the platform tot heir level. Amy hovered onto the platform, walked across it, and blasted down the Snively door on the other side. She went through the door and turned right in the next room, blasting down the door ahead of her. After proceeding like this through three rooms, she came back out in the open again. She followed the ledge she was on to the left, then jumped off and hovered down to the long series of red pillars ahead. She hovered from pillar to pillar, blasting every Beetle in her way from the sky. She was forced to go into a long hover, since the next several platforms kept going into the quicksand and coming back up. Ahead of her, she saw a platform on a bombed pillar. Alerting Angel to its presence, the Chao took action and blasted the pillar to oblivion. The platform fell, revealing.another pillar and platform right behind it. Angel destroyed the charges on that pillar, revealing yet another pillar and platform. After blasting those dynamite packs as well, the platform fell, revealing an alcove with a pulley. They were almost to the first platform at this point, but were too low to reach it. Amy spotted a pulley above one of the sinking platforms and flew into it, grabbing the handle with the robot arm. Once they were high enough, she let go and hovered to the platform. She walked across the three platforms and grabbed onto the next pulley, going to a higher area. She jumped off the pulley and onto the ledge leading inside the next open chamber. The instant Amy went through the door, several Kikis, robot monkeys, appeared and began throwing bombs at them. After getting rocked by explosions, Amy and Angel took aim, blasting the mechanical monkeys into the great junk heap in the sky. A little damaged but okay, they kept going. Right ahead was a passage blocked by the view of a pillar with charges. Angel locked onto and blew up the charges, dropping a platform in front of them. Amy jumped onto the platform and walked ahead, finding a seeming dead end. The left end of the small, narrow section they were now in had a large cylinder. Curious, Amy blasted the cylinder until it blew up, revealing a Snively door. She blew up the door, and passed through a series of antechambers, each with another Snively door blocking the way. After getting through all the doors and antechambers, they came to a ledge. Amy dropped off the ledge and onto a red pillar below. She hovered from the pillar to a narrow ledge just ahead. She walked down it to the left, finding a dead end. She dropped down to a ledge just beneath the current one, finding a passageway in the wall. She walked down the passage, finding a door blocked by crates. She blasted the crates down and entered a pillar- lined hallway filled with floating Unidus and Golas. The flaming and spiky robots came right for them, intending to destroy the intruders. They were destroyed, instead. At the end of the hallway was a pulley, which elevated Amy to another pulley, which she used to get back in the open desert. She was now in a long open hallway with many platforms and pillars, and many bomb-throwing Kikis. Amy passed down the hallway while blasting the metal monkeys to oblivion, finding a Snively door atop a high platform. She jumped across the pillars to a platform a little higher than the one at the end and hovered across, blasting open the door on the other side. She went through the door and entered a room with a Snively door on the far wall. She blasted the door apart and went through it. There was a corridor on the other side that went forward, then right. Amy walked down the corridor and to the right, blasting down another Snively door. She went past and found another door. She blasted it to pieces and followed the corridor to the left. At the other end was a room with another door. She blew open the door and came into a room with an opening on the left wall. She went through the opening and found a ledge running along the wall. She walked down the ledge on her right, coming to the end. She saw a platform below and dropped down, hovering to the bottom. As she did so, several Beetles, Hawks, and Hornets approached. Angel locked onto all the incoming enemies and destroyed them. Amy dropped onto the platform safely, walking though the doorway on it. Inside the next room, she saw a pulley. She grabbed onto the pulley and was elevated to a position where she could hover to a platform with a Snively door on it. She let go of the pulley, hovered to the platform, and destroyed the door. She went through the door and groaned at what she saw on the other side. It was a long channel of quicksand. At the far end was a platform and door. In between her and the door were several platforms that kept slowly turning over, making a very dangerous set of stepping stones. Carefully, she hovered from one platform to another, jumping off right after landing to keep from falling into the sand. After several close calls, she made it to the other end and went through the door. She was in a courtyard with a tall walkway at the other end. A spring was placed at the base of the walkway. She walked onto the spring, bouncing onto the walkway. She went down it, passing a long row of flags, before finally reaching a stairway leading to a pavilion. As they came out onto the pavilion, Amy and Angel nearly danced with glee. Right before them was the pyramid. The Goal Ring hovered in the center of the pavilion, the entrance into the great structure at the far end. She passed through the Goal Ring, ending the level.  
  
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A.)  
  
Amy called the others, telling them the way was clear. Somehow they made it through the level, reaching Amy after a long half-hour. As a group, the heroes and Chao entered the pyramid.  
  
What horrors wait inside Snively's pyramid? Find out next time! And please review! 


	8. Pyramid Cave

I'm writing up a storm! Here we go! Disclaimer: Whatever.  
  
The three anthropomorphs, human and three Chao entered the pyramid. Straight ahead was a passage leading deeper into the pyramid. There was a tablet with writing in English on it. Shadow walked over to the tablet and read it out loud. "Greetings trespassers. Congratulations for making it this far. I must admit surprise that you made it through the ruins. However, the ruins I modified are nothing compared to the dangers within this base. If you are trying to get into my inner sanctum, you will first have to work your way through the long and arduous interior of this ancient pyramid. I have planted loads of timed switches, platforms, doors, and spinning maces all over the place. I have placed quite a few E-1000's throughout the interior, and have also hired the ghosts of tomb robbers to haunt and guard the place from which they tried to steal. If you somehow manage to get through the interior, you will have to find three keys before you can unlock the door to the pyramid's core and my inner sanctum. The keys are scattered throughout a place that I have aptly named the Death Chamber. And even if you get all the keys, you'll never defeat the Chamber's guardian! And Shadow, who I am sure is reading this, just in case you do get to the core, I have arranged a little surprise for you that will ensure you never reach my supply shuttle or teleporter. And if anyone else is with you, they'll die as well. Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha-" Shadow turned away. "He keeps laughing for twenty more lines of inscription." "So, what is our course of action?" asked Robotnik. "Simple. Amy already did her job by clearing the ruins for us. I'll pave the way through the interior of the base, and Knuckles can find the three keys." Said Shadow. "Hey, why do I have to find the keys?" protested Knuckles. "You're the world's greatest treasure hunter, aren't you? Just tweak your Emerald sense a little to pick up keys." Said Amy. Knuckles grumbled, but said nothing. Amy looked over at Shadow. "You'll be fine, won't you?" Shadow nodded. "Of course. Even if Snively did manage to whip up something really dangerous, it won't stop me. I promised to marry you, and I try to never break my promises, intentionally or accidentally. I trust you'll be able to follow me in the mech after I clear the way? Good. Here I go!" Shadow ran through the door, everyone waving goodbye to him.  
  
Stage 8: Pyramid Cave. Mission: Infiltrate Snively's hidden base.  
  
Shadow began the level, racing down a stone ramp. Most of the pyramid interior was dark, filled with platforms, pillars, and giant snake statues. There were also quite a few braziers scattered about. Most of the pillars had Snively's face on them, and his face logo was embossed on most of the floor tiles. The ramp ended in a gap, with a spring at the end. Shadow ran into the spring, launching up to the path above. He ran down the path and came to a big hourglass in front of a path leading to a blank wall. High atop the wall was a ledge with a sealed stone door. Several horizontal poles ran at differing heights along the path. Shadow kicked the hourglass. It flipped over and the door opened. As the sand in the hourglass trickled down the timepiece, the door slowly began to close. Shadow quickly bounced up to a pole and grabbed onto it, swinging around it. When he had built up enough speed, he let go, launching onto another pole. He swung from pole to pole until he finally landed on the ledge. He somersaulted beneath the door just before it could close. After going through a short corridor, he was back in the giant main chamber. The path ahead of him had two E-1000's on it. They didn't notice him yet. As Shadow was about to charge up a spindash and ram into them, a ghost appeared from behind and grabbed him. Surprised, Shadow accidentally called out, getting the attention of the robots. They took aim, ready to fire their dangerous missiles. Just as they were about to fire, Shadow backflipped, causing the surprised ghost to be in front. The robots fired, their missiles striking the ghost and causing it to vanish. Before the robots could try again, Shadow ran between them and destroyed the machines with a roundhouse kick. He continued down the path and came onto a platform with a hearth. Past the hearth was a gap, across which was the path. There were a couple of horizontal bars over the gap. Shadow ran around the hearth and jumped onto the first pole, swinging around and jumping to the next one, swinging from that and landing on the path. At the end of the path was a sheer cliff. An hourglass sat between the gap and the cliff. Shadow flipped the hourglass, causing several platforms to pop out of the cliff wall and slowly start to retract. Shadow ran over to the wall and jumped up the platforms, reaching the upper path before they were completely back in the wall. At the end of the path was another sealed door, with an hourglass right in front of him. Shadow activated the hourglass, then ran down the path and through the door with plenty of time to spare. He went down a short hallway and came back out in the main room. He walked up a ramp in front of him and onto a platform. A bridge led across to a ledge in front of a fairly high wall with no clear way to get up. On the ledge, standing at opposing ends, were two E-1000's. Shadow ran down the bridge, stopping right between the two robots. The machines targeted him. Shadow jumped up right as both robots fired their missiles, hitting and destroying each other. As he landed, he grinned at the stupidity of Snively's robots then thought about how to get up the wall. He curled into a ball and started bouncing up. After half a dozen bounces, he got on top of the wall. He continued down the path and came to an hourglass. The sealed door was pretty far down the path. Shadow hit the switch and ran like the wind down the path. He rolled under one door and found another one lowering in front of him. He somersaulted under that one as well, and the lowering one after that and the one after that as well, finally leaving the now-sealed corridor. Ahead of him was a long rail leading to the next path. He jumped onto the rail and grinded down it to the path. An E-1000 was waiting at the other end. Before he could run into the E-1000, Shadow jumped off the rail and Homing Attacked into the robot. He continued down the path, coming to a narrow bridge over a shallow pit with four swinging spiked balls. He came to a ramp with a sealed door at the top and an hourglass at the bottom. Shadow flipped the hourglass, curled up, and spun in place for a second or two, right before launching into a spindash and rolling up the ramp and through the door right before it could close. He went down a short hallway and came into a large sideways chamber with a huge sealed gate at the far end of the room. A circular pedestal lay right in front of the gate. It looked like something was meant to go there. Shadow looked down the length of the room and saw numerous white ledges and a small object guarded by ghosts. Shadow ran over to the end of the room, alerting the ghosts. The spectral goons rushed our dark hero. Shadow launched into a series of Homing Attacks, sending the ghosts to the afterlife, where they belonged. He grabbed the object they had been guarding, a small artifact or something. He took it back across the room and placed it on the pedestal. The gate opened, allowing him passage. He was once more back in the main chamber. A short path led to a pulley. Shadow walked forward and jumped onto the pulley and was elevated to a higher path. He jumped onto the path. At the far end was a sealed door with an hourglass in front of it. Shadow ran over, flipped the hourglass, and ran through the door and the short hallway after it. At the end was a narrow ledge over the dark abyss of the chamber's floor. He saw a chain of Beetles leading across the void to a platform. He Homing Attacked across the chain of Beetles, landing on the platform. He saw a pulley on the platform and grabbed it, lifting himself to another platform. He jumped onto the platform and saw a larger platform to his right with a hearth on it. He jumped to the hearth platform. He saw another hearth platform to his left, and jumped over to it. He saw another one straight ahead, and jumped to that hearth platform as well. He saw a pulley hanging a bit away from his current location. Shadow Homing Attacked onto the pulley and was raised to a platform. He jumped onto the platform and saw another chain of enemies. He Homing Attacked across the Beetles and fell after he had destroyed the last one, landing on a rail. He grinded down the rail, eventually stopping on a ledge with a pulley. He grabbed the pulley and was lifted to the top of a path. He jumped onto the path, noticing a switch right in front of him. He hit the switch, and some dash panels appeared before him. He ran onto the dash panels and down the hill, going into two loops and launching off a jump plate. He landed on a platform with a bloodthirsty E-1000 and a spring. He killed the robot and hit the spring, landing on a platform with an hourglass sitting in front of a wall. Shadow hit the hourglass and the wall lowered, then slowly started to creep back up. He jumped over the wall and down the path behind it, avoiding the large swinging maces in the way. He came to a shallow pit filled with more maces, and a rail going over the pit. He grinded across the rail and continued down the path, coming to a ramp with a sealed door at the top and an hourglass at the bottom. Shadow hit the hourglass and used a Spindash to get up to the top and through the next series of lowering doors before it was too late. He was now in another long sideways chamber, but this one was even bigger. There was another huge gate and pedestal, missing the key to open it. The gate and pedestal were on a sort of higher platform. Several smaller platforms formed a set of stairs to a courtyard below. Across the courtyard was a thick wall with a sealed door and no visible hourglass. A rail in front of some dash panels went over the wall, to a room behind it. Shadow ran over the dash plate and onto the rail, grinding across it and over the wall. The rail ended at a ledge, which Shadow jumped off on. He dropped to the room below and found himself surrounded by a group of E- 1000's. As they took aim, Shadow tensed his leg muscles, then jumped right as they fired, causing the robots to destroy each other. Landing, he looked around. He saw the artifact that would open the gate, an hourglass, and a corridor leading into the thick wall and ending in the sealed gate. Shadow hit the hourglass, grabbed the artifact, and ran down the hall. Finding he didn't have enough time to run through the door, and since he couldn't somersault while carrying the artifact, he threw the ancient key under the closing door, which closed right after. He ran back to the hourglass and flipped it over again, opening the door again. He ran through the hallway and somersaulted under the door before it closed. He picked up the relic, jumped up the stair platforms, and onto the gate platform. He put the artifact on the pedestal, opening the door. He went through the door and groaned. He was at the start of an incredibly huge, long and twisting tunnel. There were ghosts flying all around, unaware of his presence. There was an hourglass right ahead of him. He could not see the door, because it was all the way at the other end of the tunnel. Not even he could run fast enough to the door before it closed if the hourglass lasted the same amount of time as all the others. He studied the tunnel ahead, noting the vast number of ghosts. He suddenly had an idea. He walked right behind the hourglass and curled into a ball, spinning in place. At first it seemed like he was charging a spindash, but he kept on spinning, lights racing around his round form. Finally, he got up, glowing. "There's no time for games!" he yelled, before unleashing the Light Attack. A black and red ball leaving a trail of yellow light, Shadow flew through the air at the speed of light, tipping over the hourglass as he started moving. He spiraled through the air, killing every ghost as he automatically homed around the tunnel. He finally killed the last ghost, landing at the end of the tunnel, in front of a small pit, with the stone door slowly closing behind it. Shadow jumped over the pit and somersaulted under the door right before it closed. He got up and saw a tunnel ahead of him, leading to a set of stairs. Just before the stairs was the Goal Ring. Shadow grinned and leaped through the ring, ending the level.  
  
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A.)  
  
Shadow radioed the others with a little communicator Robotnik had given him. They made their way through the Pyramid Cave, blasting through the doors instead of messing with the hourglasses. They rejoined Shadow at the stairs and went down to the next area.  
  
Another level cleared! How was this for Shadow action? Stay tuned for the first Knuckles level since Wild Canyon! And please, please review! 


	9. Death Chamber

Here's Knuckles' chapter. I'm sure he'll forgive me for skipping all his levels. And if he doesn't, so what? He can't do anything to me. On with the chapter! Disclaimer: Why do I bother writing this? Read the story already!  
  
Day X, 8:30 PM  
  
They looked at the door. It was big and ugly, due to the fact that Snively's face was painted on it. It had three keyholes, one for each eye and another for the nose. "Well Knuckles, you'd better start looking for those keys." Said Robotnik. "Fine. Can you guys help me?" he asked. "Sorry, we're no good at treasure hunting." Said Amy. "Lazy ass." Knuckles muttered under his breath. "Hey, don't you dare talk to my fiancée like that!" Shadow said angrily. "Uh, I'll just get going now, okay?" Knuckles said quickly, moving away from a not-too-happy Shadow.  
  
Stage 9: Death Chamber. Mission: Find the 3 gate keys.  
  
Knuckles looked around. They were in a fairly large red chamber. The stairs they had used to get down here lay near the locked door. The room had three exits that he could see. He chose the exit on the left and went through it, leaving the others to chat. The red hallway went forward a bit then curved to the right. A patrolling E-1000 walked around the bend, spotted Knuckles, and ran towards him, firing missiles. Knuckles jumped over the missiles and glided into the robot, destroying it. He continued around the bend and followed the corridor, which went straight for a while. It then went right; stopping at a wall that supported a higher path. As he was about to climb the wall, a dozen Unidus flew down, their spiked balls rotating around their central bodies. Knuckles frantically swung his fists, striking the central bodies when there were openings in the orbiting spikes. After a few minutes, all the robots were dead and he could safely climb up the wall. Up ahead, the red ended in a door leading to a plain hallway. He was about to enter the green area after the plain hallway when his treasure senses went off near a wall painting. He walked over to the painting and burrowed into it, landing in a tall room with an hourglass and a closed hatch in the floor. Knuckles punched the hourglass, figuring it would open the hatch. It didn't. Instead, platforms slid out of the right and left walls. One of them had an hourglass on it. As the platforms started to recede, Knuckles jumped onto them, hopping from platform and hitting the hourglass. The hatch in the floor opened, revealing a shallow pit. Knuckles dropped down from the platform, ran into the pit, and dug into the ground, finding the first key. He climbed out of the pit and dug back through the painting, reappearing in the corridor. He walked through the door into the green corridor. He walked to the right, and was faced with a cliff. An E-1000 was gunning for him, but could not fire down at him since he was right beneath the cliff. Knuckles climbed up the cliff, and punched the E-1000 into scrap. He followed the corridor to the left. A ghost rushed towards him. Knuckles didn't punch in time and the ghost flew right at him and screamed, scaring the Echidna. The ghost then vanished. Knuckles frowned, a little confused, then kept going, following the trail to the right. He was attacked by a Gola, a robot exactly like a Unidus except it had flames instead of spikes. Knuckles smashed the Gola and went through the doorway at the end of the corridor, coming into a large green room. There were three doors he could go through, but a stone door sealed one with a nearby hourglass and the other didn't appeal to the Guardian. He went through the remaining door walking down a long green hallway filled with E-1000's. He had to desperately fight his way through the robots until he made it out of the corridor. His mouth dropped at the next room. It was a huge round chamber, high and deep. The green door was on top of a tall platform, as were two other doors in the room, one red, one blue. In the center of the room was a huge cylindrical machine, made up of chain links and steel, complex machinery and electricity working inside the cylinder. At the top of the cylinder was a great stone pillar going up to the ceiling, where several stone slabs ringed it. Knuckles finally moved, dropping to the bottom floor of the chamber. He walked around the big machine, trying to pick up something with his treasure sense. He found an open hatch in the ground, leading to a shaft of water. Thinking he might find a key or two down there, Knuckles dove into the water, using the pieces of the Master Emerald to keep a constant supply of oxygen. At the bottom of the shaft was a water filled room with an hourglass and a sealed door. Knuckles swam into the hourglass, flipping it over, then swam through the door before it closed. He swam across the hallway beyond, which had two E-1000's firing at him. Evidently they were waterproof. Knuckles punched them as he swam by; ridding the world of these nuisances, and down another hallway lined with ghosts. He came out into a large half-submerged chamber with some altars under the water. As he started to swim past an altar, his treasure sense went off. He swam around the altar and found a key, guarded by a Unidus. He destroyed the waterproof robot and claimed the key. Only one more to go! Knuckles swam to the surface of the water, getting a breath of real air. He saw a stone door high up the wall, and an hourglass sitting on a ledge. He swam over to the wall and climbed up, shimmying over to the hourglass. He struck it then started climbing as fast as he could for the door, getting through just before it closed. His treasure senses went wild, but he didn't need the senses to tell him what he could already see. The third key was right in the center of the room! He grabbed it and did a little victory dance. Then he started back for the others.  
  
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A.)  
  
After getting out through the waterway (don't ask me how he got through the sealed door) he was about to enter the red corridor, which he believed would take him back to the others, when stone doors slammed shut over every exit in the room, trapping him in the chamber! "What the?!" He heard a ghastly noise coming from the top of the machine cylinder. Getting a bad feeling, Knuckles climbed the machine. He got to the top and looked around seeing nothing. He heard the same noise and turned around, seeing a horrible sight! It was a giant ghost, with bulging, wide apart eyes, long, curved claws, a great, blue-rimmed mouth with a rainbow-colored tongue and many sharp teeth. "A ghost? This must have been the guardian Snively was talking about!" Knuckles said. The ghost howled and floated onto the top of the machine, mouth wide open. Knuckles gulped and started running, getting the idea the ghost was trying to have him for dinner!  
  
KING BOOM BOO  
  
Knuckles ran around the big central pillar, feeling Boom Boo getting closer and closer, literally breathing down his neck. Boo got closer, closer, his mouth wide in anticipation for the kill. Knuckles started moving faster; barely missing getting his tail ripped off by Boo's jaws. Boo fell back a bit and threw a blue fireball. The projectile exploded just behind Knuckles, causing the echidna to pick up the pace. Boo threw two more fireballs, still missing. He conjured another fireball and threw it ahead of Knuckles. Knuckles frantically swerved away, getting singed as the fireball exploded right next to him. He kept going, ignoring the pain. Boo got frustrated and stopped, breathing out a blast of blue fire. Knuckles ran even faster than before, outrunning the turquoise flames. He ran all the way around the pillar and ended up behind King Boom Boo. He saw a normal ghost holding an hourglass near the King's tail. Knuckles ran up and punched the ghost, sending it to the afterlife. The hourglass flipped over as it hit the floor. The panels on the roof opened up, letting sunlight in to the chamber. Boo screamed and shrunk, becoming a ghost only a little bigger than Knuckles. As the panels began to slowly close, Boo sunk into the ground, a shadow forming to reveal his location. The shadow slid along the ground, away from Knuckles. The Guardian echidna ran after the shadow, running onto it and digging into the ground. He popped back up, sending Boo back out. The ghost wailed and flew down the path. Knuckles looked up and saw the panels were three-fourths closed. He didn't have much time. He ran after King Boom Boo, catching up to the regal spirit, and punching him from behind. The ghost screeched and flew away even faster. As Knuckles ran after him and was about to deliver another Knuckles sandwich (Heheheh) the panels slammed shut. Boo turned around and swelled to his normal size once again. Knuckles moaned, turned, and began to run again. Boo flew after him, trying to eat our friend the echidna. When Knuckles sped up, Boo fell back and started throwing more fireballs. After three dangerous close calls, Knuckles sped up again. Boo started breathing fire, which gave Knuckles the time he needed to run all the way around the pillar and punch the new hourglass-holding ghost. As the spirit faded away, the hourglass flipped over, opening the panels. Boom Boo shrunk, wailed, and went into the ground again. The shadow moved faster than before, too fast for Knuckles to keep up with. He panted and stopped, getting an idea. He turned around and waited for Boom Boo to circumvent the pillar and head towards him. Right when the shadow was about to pass under him, Knuckles dug into the ground and unearthed the ghost. Boom Boo started to fly away, but Knuckles caught up to him and hit him with another punch. Boom Boo moaned and flew off. Knuckles began to pursue him, but just then the time ran out and the sun was blocked out. King Boom Boo became a giant again and started after Knuckles once more. As knuckles quickly outran his bite, Boom Boo started throwing fireballs, which Knuckles was now moving too fast to get hit with. By the time Boom Boo started to breathe fire, Knuckles was already on the other side of the pillar. He kept going and destroyed the ghost with the hourglass, reopening the skylights. Boom Boo shrunk and went into the ground. His shadow crawled up the pillar, staying fairly stationary at the top. Knuckles climbed up the pillar, crawled over the shadow, and dug into it, releasing the ghost. Boo fell to the ground and started flying down the path, wailing. Knuckles let go of the wall and started gliding down the path, ramming into Boom Boo. He screamed and flew off. Knuckles ran after him, passing by the hourglass, noticing it was almost empty. The panels were almost completely closed. Suddenly getting a brilliant idea, Knuckles flipped the hourglass over again just before it completely ran out, reopening the shafts and allowing full sunlight to stream down. (Don't you wish this could have worked in Sonic Adventure 2?) He then waited in front of the hourglass, knowing his enemy would come by eventually. As Boo's wailing got louder, Knuckles got into position, ready for his final attack. As Boo came screaming down the path, he saw Knuckles and tried to turn around. But he could not, he had been moving too fast to stop or change direction. He tried to screech to a halt, slowing down and running straight into Knuckles' outstretched fist. Boo screamed and covered his face with his claws. Despite the light from the sun, King Boom Boo swelled back to his true size. He floated away from the center of the room, sounding like he was crying. He was! As the undead monarch sobbed, his features slowly faded, until he turned into a motionless white and blue-white form. The form slowly lowered to the ground far below, where it collapsed, melting into a puddle of white and blue-white. The puddle shrunk into a small concentrated pool, evaporating in a ghostly haze. The exits opened, the guardian destroyed. Knuckles wiped his brow. "Phew! That was tough. Well, time to get back to the others. He glided from the top of the machine to the red door, going inside. The hallway was uneventful and not noteworthy, only a sparse number of E-1000's scattered around. He exited the hallway, back in the room with the locked door. "Hey guys, I made it!" he said, getting their attention. "Bravo, Knuckles! I guess you've disproved this place as the Death Chamber, eh?" joked Robotnik. Knuckles scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, but I came kind of close a couple of times. I had to fight a giant ghost just to get back here!" "Can we see the keys?" asked Shadow. Knuckles took out the keys, noticing for the first time that each one had a stylized Snively face at the top. He grimaced. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's unlock this door!" said Amy. Knuckle handed a key to both Shadow and Amy. He climbed up the wall, next to the left eye. Amy positioned her walker in front of the right eye, using the robot arm to hold the key right over the hole. Shadow stood right in front of the nose keyhole. They inserted and turned their keys at the same time, unlocking the door. The great metal gate swung inwards, allowing entry to the inner sanctum. The heroes walked down the corridor within, coming to a hieroglyph door. It rose upwards as they approached, letting them through. They were in a huge round chamber. There were four doors at an equal level around the room, one for each point of the compass. The heroes had just come out of the south door. The north one was open, and the other two were closed. Connecting the four doors was a ring shaped stone platform with a bridge leading off to each door. Far below was the floor, a pit of quicksand with several stone blocks lying around and a few pulleys leading back up to the stone ring. The group stepped forward on the bridge. "Which way do we go?" asked Shadow. "Nowhere!" said a familiar voice. As an incredibly irritating song started to play on hidden speakers, the west door rumbled open, revealing Snively, in his walker! "This is your end, heroes! I'm not letting you get to my shuttlepad!" "What shuttlepad?" asked Amy innocently. "The shuttlepad through the north door, you pink bimbo!" he paused. "D'oh! Shouldn't have told you that. Guess I should have gotten around to fixing the locking mechanism on that door too. Oh well, anyway, you're not getting to the shuttlepad because of my powerful guardian, and you're not getting to the teleporter in the control room behind me because I'm blocking the way!" said Snively, fiercely. "Incidentally, what's to the east?" asked Knuckles. "To the east is an elevator leading to a different area of the pyramid much like the Death Chamber that leads directly outside, with a slightly less guarded series of ruins." Snively replied. They all looked at each other. "Why didn't we notice the east ruins?" Shadow asked. They all shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway, bring on your guardian Snively, I doubt he's any more difficult than any of your other creations." Snively scowled. "Just for that, I'll program him to kill you first! Now, let's do this!" Snively pressed a few buttons on his control panel then started shouting. "Arise my servant, destroy the black hedgehog and kill the others after you're done with him!" The quicksand pit bubbled. From the center, something huge erupted, towering through the center of the ring and looming over them all. It was a giant robot, covered in a stone shell to make it look like an extremely muscular Egyptian statue. Only two things gave away that the monster was indeed not just a living statue. First of all, it had a metal pod with black and yellow hazard stripes on the top of its head. Second, Snively had given it his own face, creating the image of an extremely big and strong version of Snively that everyone found hard to stomach. "By Chaos, that thing's even uglier than King Boom Boo!" said Knuckles, disgusted. "I can't stand to look at the thing's face without wanting to throw up!" complained Amy. The Chao moaned and started to cry, scared by the big ugly thing. "Oh come on, I'm not that ugly!" said Snively. "YES YOU ARE!" they all replied. Snively gnashed his teeth. "Kill Shadow!" he screamed at the giant. The giant machines opened his arms, anticipating combat. Shadow looked to the others. "Amy, get everyone to the shuttlepad. I'll teach Snively to make better guardians. Try not to leave without me, okay?" Amy grinned. "We'll be sure to keep a seat for you." Knuckles and Robotnik squeezed into the Passion. Amy jumped off the bridge, hovering to a platform below and jumping across them to reach a pulley near the north end of the room. Due to Snively's instructions, the giant didn't even notice them. Shadow walked onto the stone ring. "All right big guy, let's dance." He said.  
  
SNIVEL GOLEM  
  
The Golem swung a fist downwards, trying to squish the black hedgehog to a bloody pulp. Shadow ran out of the way and began speeding down the ring, trying to get behind the Golem. The giant turned to face him and smashed his left arm down, trying to cut Shadow off. Shadow stopped immediately, thanking whoever had made his cool shoes that they had literal air brakes. As the Golem raised its fist again, Shadow ran underneath it, still going. The Golem tried to smash him again and failed, being far too slow. Shadow got behind the Golem's back. He was surprised when it stopped moving and several platforms shot out of its back, then started to slowly recede. Shadow quickly jumped onto the biggest one, which was in line with the ring. He jumped and did a Homing Attack to reach the next one up, and did the same for the next one. Now he was just underneath the giant's neck. Three immobile platforms stuck out of the Golem's head. Each had a glowing hieroglyph on it. Shadow performed four Homing Attacks in a row, striking the hieroglyphs on the platforms and smashing right into the pod on the Golem's head, destroying it. He tumbled through the air, his momentum carrying him towards the quicksand. He activated his jets, landing on a platform. He Homing Attacked onto a pulley and lifted himself back onto the ring and headed for the exit. The Golem flailed its arms wildly, its stone head spinning. Snively sputtered furiously. "Wha-but-hey! Come back here!" Shadow sighed and turned to face Snively. "What is it?" "Why aren't you dead? How did you know the Golem's only weak spot was the restraining mechanism on its handsome head?" Snively asked, really angry. Shadow rolled his eyes. "Because it was the only thing not covered in stone, it was on top of its head; practically screaming it was a weak point, and it had yellow and black hazard stripes. You really make your weaknesses too obvious Snively." He smirked. "Hell, the GUN's F-6T Bigfoot put up more of a challenge than your Golem!" Before an enraged Snively could lock onto him with his laser blaster, Shadow ran through the north door.  
  
The top of the pyramid unfolded, revealing a deep shaft. At the bottom of the shaft was a stolen American space shuttle, complete with giant fuel tank and booster rockets. A feminine computer voice switched on. "Liftoff sequence initiated. Shuttle liftoff in 5.4.3.2.1.0. Liftoff is engaged. Have a nice day." The shuttle engines and booster rockets ignited, launching the shuttle up the shaft and out of the pyramid, streaming up into the night sky. Our heroes and Chao were heading into space, for the final confrontation on the ARK.  
  
And so the final leg of the Hero story begins! What dangers await on the colony? What has Robotnik found out about the place? Find out next time! And please review! 


	10. Eternal Engine

Her is the beginning of the end, starting with Amy's last level. I hope you like it. And Maverick, I really appreciate all of your reviews. If only someone else would read my story. Sigh. Disclaimer: I'm not saying it.  
  
Day X, 9:00 PM.  
  
The shuttle left the atmosphere, the booster rockets detaching and falling to the planet below. The shuttle's engines stayed on, sending the craft to its destination. As the artificial gravity came on, our heroes got out of their seats, not believing they were in space. Well actually, Amy and Shadow had already been in space when Snively tried to launch the Death Snivel using the Master Emerald, but that didn't make it any less amazing. Robotnik gathered them all in the shuttle's common room. "I've set the autopilot for the ARK, but it'll take us two hours to reach the colony. That will leave us an hour to stop the cannon from firing. Think we can do that, Shadow?" he asked. Shadow nodded. "I'm positive." "Good. Now, why don't we relax until we get to our destination? This would be a good time to watch one of the movies I brought with us, since I found a DVD player." Said Robotnik. "What movie are we watching?" asked Amy. Robotnik held up a DVD case showing some Chao in helmets. "Planet of the Chaos." "Ooh, I never got to see that movie!" said Knuckles eagerly. "Well, now's your chance. Ready to see it now?" asked Amy. "Hold on, I just remembered, where are the pieces of the Master Emerald?" asked Knuckles. "Relax, they're in the cargo bay, with the Passion." Said Shadow. "Come on doc, let's see the movie." Robotnik obliged and put the disc into the player and turned the TV on. As they sat down to watch the video, Angel tapped Devil's shoulder. The Dark Chao turned around, curious. He was puzzled, noticing that her halo had turned into a strangely familiar shape, not noticed by the others. He queried her in Chao language. Not answering, she took his hand and led him to one of the shuttle's quarters, closing the door behind them. Eggchao looked after them, wondering why they left. He figured they were probably just getting some sleep and turned to watch the movie.  
  
A while later, the movie was almost over. They were in the last fifteen or so minutes. (By the way, you'll have had to see Planet of the Apes to understand this scene.) As the Chao and human/anthropomorph armies looked up in awe from their positions around the wrecked space station, a small space pod landed in the middle of the two factions. The pod opened up, revealing a small dragon Chao at the controls. One of the generals of the Chao army, who looked mostly gorilla, spoke up. "It is Chaos! Chaos has returned at last!" The numerous Chao started bowing before the small dragon Chao, except for a nasty Dark dragon Chao, the villain. As the scene played out, Eggchao looked behind him, down to where the quarters were. He wondered why Angel and Devil were still sleeping, He decided to go check on them. He slipped unnoticed from Robotnik's lap and walked down the hall to the room they had gone into. Quietly opening the door, he peeked inside the room. He saw Devil and Angel lying on one of the beds, on top of each other and moving around a lot. This confused Eggchao for a moment, then with a shocking burst of realization, he understood. His eyes bulged. He backed away from the door, walking backwards down the hallway, going back into the common room and over to Robotnik. He frantically tugged his master's sleeve, trying to get his attention. Robotnik shook him off, too enthralled by the movie to notice him. Eggchao gave up and continued going backwards, sitting in his master's lap and watching the movie. But in his mind, he was still walking backwards. (I love the Simpsons. ^_______^ ) Soon enough, the movie was over. Robotnik wanted to save the rest of the movies for the way back, since it would be a longer flight back to the U.S. than to the ARK. Amy went down to the cargo bay and started using some of the weapons she found on the Passion, trying to make it stronger in case she had to fight Snively's walker again. Eggchao got Robotnik's attention and took him to the room where Angel and Devil were doing it, only to find they had fallen asleep next to each other. Despite Eggchao's numerous protests, Robotnik didn't see anything wrong. Half an hour later, they were at the Ark, passing through the field of asteroids that once had been the empty southern hemisphere. As they passed through, a small meteor grazed the doors of the cargo bay. Amy had finished her modifications to the Passion just before then, so was out of the cargo bay when the doors were blasted open by the impact from the space rock. Robotnik, at the bridge when the incident occurred, quickly shut the doors. As the others waited, he gave the damage report. Sheepishly, the scientist turned around. "I have a little bad news. Although the Passion and all the supplies are still in the bay, six pieces of the Master Emerald fell out." "WHAT?!" shouted Knuckles, so loud that it echoed throughout the entire shuttle. "Turn this shuttle around now! I have to get those pieces!" "Knuckles, wait a moment!" said Robotnik as Knuckles went for the controls. "The southern hemisphere of the ARK still remains as a weak force screen holding all the asteroids and experimental planetoids close to the colony. There is oxygen and some gravity. All you have to do is wait for us to dock with the colony, and you can go out for yourself and find the pieces!" Knuckles hesitated, then turned around. "All right, I'll wait. But if any of those pieces have fallen away from the ARK, I'll hold you responsible." He grumbled.  
  
The shuttle had entered the large docking bay, a space big enough for the entire space shuttle to fit. Knuckles was already gone, gliding out of the open bay doors to search for the Emerald shards in the asteroid field. Amy and Shadow were all ready for their missions. Robotnik was about to begin telling them about the ARK when Amy suddenly realized something. "Hey, where's Angel? I can't go through this place without her as my second gunner!" said Amy. "She's probably still in the shuttle." Said Shadow. "Hang on, I'll get her." Said Amy. She walked over to the door into the shuttle and started calling. "Angel? Angel! Come out here please! We have to get going, there's only an hour left before the cannon goes off!" She waited a moment as her Chao came towards the door. Amy gasped. "Guys, come here, you won't believe this!" Shadow and Robotnik exchanged glances, then ran over to the shuttle. As Amy backed away from the door, they gasped as well. Angel and Devil were standing there, looking more energetic and happy than before. Angel was holding something in her cute little hands. It was a Chao egg. Shadow blinked, putting two and two together. He stared at Devil. "Devil, you little scamp! How dare you get a kid before I do?" he said, half-joking. Devil shrugged, still happy from the last couple of hours he had spent with his new mate. "Oh my-" Robotnik looked down at Eggchao. "Is this what you were trying to show me earlier?" Eggchao nodded vigorously. "I apologize for not coming sooner." Amy bent down, peering at the egg. "I don't believe this! I'm so happy for you Angel!" She paused. "I'm sorry if this may hurt your feelings, but you need to leave the egg here. I need you by my side if we're going to stop this latest evil plan from going off without a hitch. Will you please be my gunner again, before you are a real mother?" Angel looked a little crestfallen. She stared at her egg, then at Amy, trying to decide what to do. She didn't want to leave the egg unattended, but she didn't want to pass up the chance to blow things up either. Her little dilemma was solved for her when Devil gently took the egg from her, holding it tightly, showing he wouldn't let it out of his sight. Her halo turning into a heart, Angel gave Devil a huge hug, then ran over to the Passion, getting into her seat behind the Laser Blaster. The sweet moment over, they all went away from the shuttle so Robotnik could brief them. The doctor cleared his throat and began. "The space colony ARK was the first and only Bernoulli spherical space colony ever created. It was supposed to be a research center and laboratory. It was built using her extensive share of the family fortune by my late and esteemed grandmother, Maria Robotnik. I never met the woman, but my father said she was an incredible scientist, a genius rivaling Einstein's intellect in some regards. She had a hand in every experiment that took place on this colony. My grandmother made many of the modern technological advantages we take for granted today! The Chaos Drive, the Omochao servant droid, the genetic protoform, and other achievements in many different branches of science, most of which could never have been discovered in the first place without her extensive knowledge of the workings of the Chaos and Super Emeralds." He frowned. "However, fifty years ago, something happened. I don't know what, but it had something to do with the military and one of Maria's experiments, something she kept in close secret but reported it to be her greatest creation, an invention that would benefit all species on the planet. I don't know exactly what happened, but the ARK was shut down. All experiments came to a halt, the scientists disappearing from the public forever. GUN left many robots behind to guard the colony in case somebody else tried to come up here, and Maria Robotnik was never seen again." He shook his head a little sadly, and then a smile came to his face. "It's amazing really. We're standing in a piece of history, the culmination of all the scientific achievements made by my family over the centuries. This place is a legacy waiting to be claimed, by anyone. Perhaps I should take it off of GUN's hands, it does rightfully belong to the Robotnik clan anyway. Though I do wonder why she made the cannon anyway, it wasn't in her nature to make a weapon like that-" He mused. "Uh, doctor? This is really interesting, but the cannon?" said Amy. Robotnik shook himself back to the present. "Right, right, sorry." He handed Shadow and Amy a few pieces of paper. "These are maps of the ARK and its environs. I downloaded them from my grandmother's few remaining records in the Robotnik database. They were about the only things she had left behind that GUN didn't confiscate. They will help you work your way through the colony." He turned to Amy. "Amy, Angel, your job is to get to the section I have circled on your map. The cannon draws its power from the Super Emeralds and the colony's Chaos reactor, but also uses four auxiliary power generators. Your mission is to get to the circled generator and shut it down by whatever means possible, preferably blasting it to pieces." "Cool!" said Amy, grinning. Robotnik turned to Shadow. "The destroyed generator will not stop the cannon from firing, but it will allow Shadow to accomplish his mission." The doctor pointed to a circled area that seemed to be inside of the cannon's shaft. "This room is the control room for the entire colony and the cannon. There are receptacles for all seven Super Emeralds, but a shield guards them. The shield will be brought down by the destruction of the generator, allowing you to get to the Emeralds." "And then I take them out, right?" Shadow guessed. Robotnik shook his head. "No, then you put this into the space for the seventh Emerald!" the doctor said, handing him the fake Super Emerald. "It has the same wavelengths and properties as a real Super Emerald, but if used in conjunction with the six real Emeralds Snively has, it will explode when the cannon tries to fire, permanently damaging the control room and preventing Snively from just recollecting the Supers and trying again." Shadow blinked. "That's brilliant! Wait, how do we know he won't catch on?" Robotnik grinned. "I made the fake so well that not even a machine can tell it's not a real Emerald. And most of the security cameras are broken from disuse, including the one in this docking bay, so he won't be able to tell you have the fake and Amy has the real one." He pointed to a door leading into the colony. "Once Amy destroys the generator, it will be safe for you to enter the control room. Call me when you're there and I'll give you further instructions, it'll take more for my plan to work then simply inserting the jewel into the slots. Eggchao, Devil and myself will stay here and take care of the egg. I'll tell Knuckles what's going on when he gets back, okay?" The two hedgehogs nodded. "Then go! The fate of the world rests on your shoulders!" The Passion and Shadow went through the door and split up, each beginning their respective quests.  
  
Stage 10: Eternal Engine. Mission: Destroy the colony's power generator.  
  
Amy was in a room with some cool cylinders and neat décor. She walked down a wide hallway ahead of her. A trio of Hornets appeared and aimed their missiles. Angel locked on and destroyed them. The door ahead opened. Amy walked through the door and was in a tall room. In the middle of the room was a spring. Amy stepped on it, bouncing into a wall, off another spring and into another, finally grabbing a pulley in midair and being raised up into a cluster of Beetles. Angel targeted and blasted them all to pieces. Amy let go of the pulley and hovered to a nearby hallway. As she approached the door at the end of the hallway, it opened, allowing her through. She went along a curve to the left and came into another hallway with a few closed hatches leading to space. She walked past the hatches and was confronted by a strange enemy resembling their friend Chaos, who was now a good guy and living on Angel Island. It was made of water, but had a robot head. As the Artificial Chaos stretched out its tendrils, Angel shot it in the head, destroying it. They passed through a door and came into a room with two doors, one straight ahead and one to the right. Amy walked through the door straight ahead and found a locked door behind it. She left through the unlocked door and tried the other one, finding a room filled with crates and a hatch. She blasted the crates away, revealing a switch. She hit the switch, unlocking the other door. She left the room and used the straight door again, passing through the now unlocked portal. The hedgehog and Chao gasped in surprise. They were in space. They were standing on a balcony outside of the colony proper, protected with an atmospheric shield that allowed them to breathe. After taking in the view, Amy noticed a ledge to her left. She jumped off of the railing and hovered onto the ledge. In front of her, straight ahead of the ledge, were a series of floating metal cylinders, forming steps to a floating platform. Amy jumped and hovered from cylinder to cylinder, landing on the platform. As she stepped on it, it moved upwards, stopping in front of another cylinder. She jumped onto it and saw another floating platform, moving from side to side. She waited for it to get close to her before hovering onto it. Once she was safely on the platform, she saw a door across from her. She waited until she was in line with the door, then hovered over to it, passing through as it opened automatically. Inside was a rectangular room with several space hatches and an Artificial Chaos. As the robotic blob fired lasers at her, Amy blasted its head. This turned out to be a mistake. When the Artificial Chaos died, every hatch in the room blew open, creating a vacuum leading out into space. Very carefully, Amy hovered across the room, staying out of the suction flows and passing through the door at the other end. She was in a high room with some cages piled together, a door to high to reach, and a platform moving back and forth, also out of reach. There were several lasers around the door. Amy jumped up to the top of the pile of cages. When the platform was close enough, she jumped onto it, then hovered towards the door, flying between the lasers. The door opened, letting her in. She was now in a room with a winged Beetle, a canister, and two metal boxes with springs on them. A large shadow was in the center of the room. Amy looked up and saw a giant weight suspended in the air. She figured if she walked under the weight, it would fall on her. She blasted the Beetle, then shot the canister at the end of the room, destroying it and revealing a switch. Walking around the edges of the room, she went between the boxes and hit the switch. The weight shuddered, staying in place. Amy tested the weight by stepping one foot inside the shadow. The weight didn't budge. Pleased, she jumped onto one of the springs and was launched onto the top of the weight. A pulley hung above her. She grabbed the pulley and was lifted high into the air, into a cloud of hornets. Angel targeted and blasted all the Hornets before they could fire their homing missiles. Amy let go of the pulley and hovered towards the door, which opened as she approached. Inside was a hallway with a higher platform going after the midpoint of the room. Three Beetles hovered in the middle. Amy blasted the Beetles and then the canister beneath the tall platform, revealing a spring. The spring sent her up onto the platform, allowing her to continue down the hallway. She passed through the door at the end and came to a small room with a door on the right wall. She went through the door and another door after that, and was out in space again, on a catwalk. She followed the catwalk to its end and grabbed a pulley hanging over it. The pulley took her to a higher catwalk, which she jumped onto. She walked along the catwalk, turning right as she did so, and saw another catwalk below her own. Since the current walkway went no further, Amy dropped to the one below, hitting a switch as she did so. A pulley appeared at the end of the catwalk. Amy followed the walkway and grabbed the pulley, going up to a new catwalk. She hovered to it and followed it to its end. She saw a metal cylinder to her right, forming a bridge to a different catwalk. She walked along the cylinder and down the length of the catwalk, grabbing on to another pulley and elevating to another catwalk. She walked along the catwalk. And stepped onto a platform. The platform floated upwards, stopping in front of a door. Amy went through the door, back inside the colony. She went through a short corridor and emerged in a big room with a long bridge over a big platform. The bridge led to a door. Amy walked across the bridge, blasting all the Beetles and Hornets in her way, only to find it locked. She dropped to the big platform below. She found a switch and pressed it, unlocking the door. She found a spring and bounced back up to the bridge, walking to the now-unlocked door and going through. She walked down a hallway and saw a large floating Artificial Chaos. Angel targeted its head and destroyed it, clearing the way. At the end of the hallway was a tall room with a pulley. Amy grabbed onto the pulley and was lifted to another pulley. She jumped to the pulley and was elevated to a floating platform. She hovered onto the floating platform and was lifted to a door. She hovered to the door, which opened automatically, and passed through. She was outside the colony again. Across a wide expanse was the next door. In front of her was a floating platform. Amy hovered onto the platform, expecting it to take her across. She was understandably terrified when the platform collapsed beneath her, falling into space. She started screaming until she realized she wasn't falling. In fact, she was twisting and turning in midair, thanks to an antigravity safety net of sorts. Relieved, Amy started spinning across the gap, blasting the numerous Beetles and Hornets in her way, until she reached the door. It opened, and she went through. Once more in normal gravity, Amy walked down a hallway and came into a room with a hovering blob of Artificial Chaos. As Angel started to take aim, all the water fell from the blob, leaving the robot head in the air. The water formed into several dozen miniature Artificial Chaos, which started to attack them. As the little artificial lifeforms assaulted the Passion, Amy and Angel desperately fired from their guns, trying to hit the little monsters. A stray shot streaked through the air and hit the floating head, destroying it. The little blobs dissolved. Sighing in relief, they went through the door at the end and came to a small chamber with the Goal Ring in the middle and another door at the end. Amy walked through the Goal Ring, ending the level.  
  
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A.)  
  
Amy walked through the door, coming into a large chamber with many cables, wires and pistons surrounding a central metal orb, humming with power. Amy turned to Angel. "Ready?" The Chao nodded. They both aimed at the orb and started firing, shooting blast after blast until the generator exploded in a shower of sparks and pyrotechnics. The lights dimmed slightly. Amy contacted Shadow. "Shadow? The generator's out, it's time to finish this!" "Roger that, see you back at the shuttle." Shadow responded.  
  
What will happen next? Will Shadow put the fake Emerald in place? Actually, no he won't. Because it's time for one last Knuckles level, with an ending you won't believe. Enjoy, and please review! 


	11. Meteor Herd

Here is the final Knuckles level. I think the fight between Rouge and Knuckles will be quite.interesting. It's gonna be the first of the really cool final battles, with an ending so unexpected you'll have to see it to believe it. This may very well be the longest fight in the story, though not necessarily the most important or intense. Oh, and I should mention the Dark Story is going to be incredible. You forget the character I have created to replace Shadow on the Dark side. I think you will find Scales to be a match and good replacement for our favorite hedgehog. Disclaimer: Ugh.  
  
Day X, 11:10 PM  
  
Knuckles looked around him. He had followed the weak signal from the emerald shards to this place in the asteroid field. He was on a platform based on top of a hollowed out giant meteor. There were lots of big boxes, platforms, and huge abandoned construction vehicles lying about. In the middle of the platform was another platform, raising out of the ground. On top of that platform was a metal foundation with several sealed storage bays. On top of the foundation was what looked like an unfinished tower, nothing but a framework of girders. The floor of the tower looked like it could unfold. There were lots of floating platforms all over the place, and a metal tower from the colony jutting down over the meteor. There were plenty of floating catwalks and blue storage containers. All in all, this was going to be a difficult place to search through. "Well, I'd better get going." Knuckles said to himself. "Those Master Emerald pieces aren't going to find themselves."  
  
Stage 11: Meteor Herd. Mission: Find three pieces of the Master Emerald.  
  
Knuckles jumped down from his initial platform and started looking around. He climbed up to the ledge around the central tower and started walking around it. His Chaos sense went off as he neared one of the closed storage bays. He rammed his fists into the door, doing no damage. He tried to dig into the surface, but it was too strong. Knuckles sat down, trying to figure out a solution for this. Looking outward, he noticed a giant crate right across from the hatch for the cargo bay. On top of the crate was a hollowed out asteroid, with some metal charges in it. Knuckles glided over to the crate, climbed up it, and stood behind the asteroid. Thanking God for the lesser gravity and his already incredible strength, Knuckles picked up the space rock and threw it at the door, smashing it in. Knuckles glided back to the platform, climbed up, and went through the crumpled hatch. Lying in front of the smashed door and asteroid was a shard of the Master Emerald. Knuckles picked it up and left, beginning the search for more Emeralds. He climbed up the platform to the unfinished building. Thinking he could get a good view from the top, he climbed up one of the girders, reaching the top of the building. He noticed a small platform with a spring on it floating above a girder going across the middle of the unfinished building. He walked over and tried to jump onto the platform, not able to get high enough. He got an idea and leaped up with a spiral uppercut, getting high enough to grab on to the side of the platform and climb up, jumping off the spring. He was propelled into the air and landed on a platform with a rocket in the middle and a narrow walkway leading away from the main section. The walkway had a spring on it. His Emerald sense went off, faintly. Knuckles looked up and saw a piece of the Emerald floating high in the air. He looked at the spring and saw it was aimed at another spring attached to a small meteor, aiming somewhere above the Emerald shard. Knuckles ran onto the walkway and onto the spring, bouncing off the second spring, and going high into the air. He started gliding and turned around and around, grabbing the Emerald shard in midair. He continued gliding and landed back on the platform. He grabbed the rocket and was carried high up as it lifted off. When he let go, he landed on a platform with another rocket. It lifted him all the way up to the side of the tower jutting from the surface of the colony. He let go and fell, gliding and grabbing onto the wall. He started shimmying around the side of the tower, reaching a ledge with a spring and a Phoenix, a variation of the Hornet series. He destroyed the Phoenix before it could shoot him, and was surprised when his Emerald sense started going off again. He looked up and saw the third piece of the Master Emerald floating high up. Knuckles saw a spring at the edge of the platform. He jumped onto it and was launched into the air. He cursed as his momentum carried him up past the shard. He broke into a glide, turning down and through the sky until he grabbed the third piece of the Emerald.  
  
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A.)  
  
Knuckles started to congratulate himself, before remembering he was still missing half of the pieces of the Master Emerald. Three were still unaccounted for, and the other three were with that attractive.er, he meant thieving bat girl. His Emerald senses went off again. Surprised, he looked around, seeing nothing. Then he looked off the end of his ledge, down at the big meteor below. His eyes widened as he saw a small white object gliding towards the center of the meteor. He dropped off the ledge, falling down, down towards the meteor. He broke into a glide to avoid some platforms in his path, then kept falling again, eventually getting close to the building. He glided again, stopping and landing on a girder. Rouge was on the other end of the girder, just now seeing him. A smile came onto her face. "Well, it's been a while since we've last seen each other, isn't it." she paused. "What was your name again?" "Knuckles. I haven't forgotten your name, Rouge." Said the echidna. Rouge frowned, which strangely enough Knuckles thought looked wrong on her. "Hey, you never told me your name! How can I be expected to remember something I didn't know?" Knuckles thought a moment. "Good point. I see you haven't forgotten about the Master Emerald." He said, pointing to her, sensing the energy from the missing Master Emerald shards. "Neither have you. So, are you going to hand the missing pieces over?" Rouge asked. Knuckles snorted. "No way! You hand the missing pieces over!"  
  
"No, you!" "You!" "You!" "You!" "You!" "You!" "Stop!" yelled Rouge. "This isn't getting us anywhere. How about this, we fight each other for the Master Emerald. Whoever beats the other gets the six shards he or she is holding. Sound fair?" Knuckles nodded. "As long as you don't cheat." Rouge grinned, her two vampiric fangs showing. "I may be a thief, but I do have honor! I don't plan on cheating." "Then let's do this." Said Knuckles, tilting his head to the side, indicating they jump down to the floor of the building. "Let's." agreed Rouge. They jumped off the girder and landed in the center of the tower of girders, facing each other in a battle stance.  
  
ROUGE  
  
Knuckles and Rouge ran at each other. Knuckles tried to nail her with a punch, but she ducked and hit him in the chest with a kick that sent him reeling. He was surprised that she had been able to kick that hard! As she ran towards him, Knuckles held his fists out, planning to ram them into her head as she tried to kick him. She jumped over him and came downward in a drill drive, hurting him more than the kick! As Knuckles tried to get up, Rouge kicked him, sending him rolling across the floor. She came towards him again. Knuckles grunted and got up. As Rouge tried to give him another kick, he ducked around the swing and grabbed her leg. As she started to unbalance, startled, Knuckles threw her over his shoulder, sending her into a girder. She winced and got up. He ran towards her, fists ready. Rouge turned around and started climbing up the side of the girder. Knuckles grabbed on to the girder and started climbing after her. When she noticed he was only a few feet underneath her, she smiled and let go. She immediately went into a drill drive, knocking Knuckles off of the girder and sending him smashing to the ground. As he moaned and started to get up, Rouge shot down from above in another drill drive, her own spiked knuckles driving into the echidna's stomach. He groaned and punched upwards, hitting her in the face. She gasped and flipped off of him. Knuckles quickly got up and hit her from behind, sending her several feet back. He came racing towards her. Rouge glared and got ready. When he swung his fists, Rouge swung a leg. The punch and kick connected with each other, deflecting with enough force to send both fighters several yards away from each other. As they started charging for each other again, the ground suddenly opened up, revealing a shaft going straight into the molten core of the giant meteor. As the echidna and bat started to fall, the antigravity generators running up half the tower's height switched on, sending both of them reeling into the air. As Rouge floundered, trying to "swim" to a girder, Knuckles flipped over to a girder, as he was closer to the edge when the floor had opened up. He climbed a little way up the girder and launched off, gliding above Rouge, who was almost to one of the horizontal girders. He spun into a drill drive, hitting her while she was vulnerable. She cried out and kicked him off of her, sending him into the antigravity field. She pulled herself onto the girder, ran along its length, and climbed up a vertical girder. As Knuckles started to get close to one of the horizontal girders, she jumped off the girder and started to glide over to him. As she positioned herself right above him, Knuckles realized what she was doing and tried to get to the girder as fast as possible. Just as she started her drill drive, the floor closed up again and the antigravity cut off. Knuckles had not yet reached the girder and started to fall. This was made worse when Rouge slammed into him from above with the Drill Drive, sending him to the ground faster than before and inflicting constant damage while doing so. He hit the ground hard, hurting more than before due to the impact from Rouge's claws and the hard metal floor. But if Knuckles was one thing, it's resilient, and he punched Rouge off of him and got up. She raced towards him, starting to make a kick. Knuckles ducked beneath the swing and shot up around the leg, hitting her with a spiral uppercut. She fell away, hurt. She felt her jaw; assuring herself it wasn't broken. Knuckles took advantage of her momentary pause and punched her in the gut. He followed this up with an uppercut and a three-hit combo. She staggered back, obviously hurting. Knuckles ran towards her again. Rouge suddenly dropped to the ground and sweeped out with her legs, knocking Knuckles off his feet. She got up and kicked him in the sides, sending him rolling over the floor. He got up before she could come over. She smirked at him as he winced, clutching his ribs. "That'll teach you not to hurt a lady!" she said. "What kind of lady goes around stealing jewels, anyway?" Knuckle asked angrily. "I'll have you know that it has been a tradition in my family for generations! The eldest daughter always becomes a jewel thief, inheriting the treasure senses of her mother and skill at heists!" Rouge responded indignantly. Knuckles blinked. "Really? The same thing sort of works in my family. The first boy of his generation inherits his dad's treasure sense and job as Guardian of the Master Emerald." Rouge couldn't help smiling again. "So you could say we have a lot in common, don't we?" "You just keep thinking that, bat girl!" Knuckles said, running towards her. As she charged at him, the floor opened once more. "Oh, crap!" "Not agaaaaaaaaiiiiiiinnnnnnnnn!" yelled Rouge as the antigravity sent them shooting upwards. They both swam through the air, pulling themselves up on the same girder. "I've had enough of this! Power Flash!" shouted Knuckles. There was a flash of bright light, and Rouge screamed, clutching her eyes in pain, temporarily blinded. Knuckles took advantage of this and ran forward, unleashing multiple punches on the bat while she couldn't see. As he was about to land a crippling blow to her chin, Rouge's sight recovered and she delivered a tremendous kick to the spot between his legs. Knuckles' mouth fell open, his eyes bulging. He fell to the ground, wheezing. Rouge delivered about a dozen crushing kicks to the fallen echidna, knocking him off of the girder just as the floor started to close. She jumped off the girder after him as the antigravity turned off, smashing into him with a Drill Drive and sending both of them crashing to the ground. Knuckles knocked her off. He was really getting peeved, and kind of impressed. Before Rouge could put up a defense, Knuckles let loose a flurry of punches, each hitting and causing a lot of pain for the thief. She flipped away, holding her stomach. "You think you're so tough? Then take this! Nightmare Shock!" Knuckles was suddenly paralyzed in fear as every nightmare, fear or misgiving he ever had raced from his subconscious, forcing him to relive every moment of terror or discomfort he had ever experienced. He screamed and clutched his head. Rouge ran up to him and hit him with kick after kick, not stopping even when he had recovered from her attack. Knuckles grabbed her foot and threw her over his shoulder as he had before. Rouge got into a stance. Knuckles spun around and did the same. They both let out a punch and kick at the same time, connecting with each other's jaw. The force from the blow to either of them caused them to stagger back, panting.  
  
Knuckles could vaguely feel that his entire body was hurting. He tuned out the pain, focusing on his duty. He couldn't believe that Rouge had withstood all of his attacks. Every enemy that he had ever fought before, even Chaos, had never come this close to beating him. She had the same strength as he did. She was truly a worthy match. And Knuckles couldn't help noticing for the first time how beautiful she was, even tired and bloody as she was now. He snapped out of this moment of observation. What was he thinking? He had to get the pieces of the Master Emerald from her! He turned around and ran for the nearest girder. Rouge did the same thing. Both grabbed onto the girders and started climbing, higher and higher, until they were at the top level of the building. As they reached the top, the floor opened again. They were too high to be affected, but it added an interesting effect to the scene. The two treasure hunters slowly ran around the top girders, meeting each other on the single girder over the middle of the building. They stopped, facing each other. Both were exhausted, feeling like they couldn't take another step without collapsing. Knuckles spoke up. "I have a proposition." he managed to say. "What?" asked Rouge. "We're both severely weakened. One more attack should finish at least one of us off. So I propose we end this battle with one final attack, each of us using our strongest technique. Whoever is left standing wins custody of the Emerald. Sound good?" he asked. She nodded breathlessly. "Yeah, sounds good." "Then let's do this." He raised his arms, gathering what little strength he had left. A ball of yellow electricity gathered above him, crackling and growing in size. Rouge put one foot behind her and twisted her waist, holding her hands cupped and at her hip level. A mass of darkness began to collect in her palms. Knuckles finished charging the attack, the ball of electricity the size of his head. "Thunder Arrow!" The ball shot a bolt of yellow energy with an arrowhead at Rouge. Rouge finished charging the attack, the dark mass filling her cupped hands completely. She swung her waist to face the front, flinging her cupped hands outward. "Black Wave!" The mass shot at Knuckles in the form of a ring of darkness. The two attacks hit their intended victims at the same time. The two hunters screamed in pain and fell over, unconscious.  
  
Knuckles groaned in pain and woke up. He regretted it, every part of his body suddenly feeling like Hell. He struggled to his feet and suddenly realized he was missing something. Despair settled over him. The pieces of the Master Emerald were gone. His shoulders sagged. "Why so glum?" asked Rouge. Knuckles looked up in surprise. Rouge was still there. She had obviously gotten up before him and taken the shards, so why was she still here? "It was a good fight, you almost won. Why are you so sad about losing?" Knuckles shook his head "It-it's nothing. Go. You have all twelve pieces. Take them and leave. You've proven yourself to be a far worthier guardian of the Master Emerald then I ever could be. Just." He looked up. "Just take better care of it than I did, okay?" Rouge looked at him confused. "I don't understand. What are you going on about? It's just another jewel, albeit the biggest one on the planet. Why are you so depressed about not getting your rock back?" Knuckles stared at Rouge, surprised. "You mean you don't know?" "Know what?" "Why the Master Emerald is so important to me, to my race?" "No, I just know it's the largest gemstone in the world and has some weird powers." Knuckles shook his head, dismayed. "I don't believe it. You really don't know." "Know what?" asked Rouge, getting a little frustrated. Knuckles looked her straight in the eye. "The Master Emerald has been protected by the Echidna clan of the Crescent for thousands of years, ever since it was brought into being by the deity Chaos. After a rival clan of echidna tried to take the Master, Super and Chaos Emeralds from the clan by force, resulting in the deaths of many Chao and an enraged god of destruction, the princess of that clan, Tikal, had to seal herself and Chaos into the Master Emerald to protect everyone from the rampaging deity. Because of the deaths Chaos had caused due to the invasion by the rival clan, my ancestors used the power of the Master Emerald to raise their land into the clouds, dubbing it Angel Island. The Chaos Emeralds were scattered around the globe as they flew around the world, ensuring they would be protected from evil. To keep the Master Emerald from being taken by those wishing to covet its power, a Guardian was appointed to protect the Emerald for all his days. This tradition has carried on into modern times, leaving me in charge of guarding the Master Emerald after my father's death. Without the Emerald, the island can no longer fly and falls to the ground, usually in the ocean, and becomes a normal island. That would be fine, were it not for the tradition." He sighed. "But it seems that with my failure to take back the shards from you, I have broken that tradition. Angel Island will remain earthbound forevermore. Take the Emerald. Do with it what you will." Rouge looked at Knuckles for a moment, trying to sort some things through. Finally, she made a decision. She pulled the bag she had been using to contain the Emerald pieces and dumped its contents out at Knuckles' feet. He looked at the pieces then at Rouge, amazed. "Why-" "Because I don't want to ruin anyone's life or way of life. The Emerald belongs to your race, Knuckles. I have plenty of other jewels, anyway." She gestured at the pieces. "Go on. You said you could fix the thing. Do it." Still amazed that she had actually given up her prize, Knuckles gathered the pieces together and started assembling them, forming the massive jewel in seconds. It glowed brightly, complete at last. Knuckles put his hand on the Master Emerald and it shrunk to the size of a Super Emerald. He placed it in his dimension pocket. He looked at Rouge, extremely grateful. "Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me." He paused, scratching the back of his head. "I'm, uh, sorry if I hurt you. Is there any way I can make up for the brutality I showed in the fight?" Rouge took a step forward. "There is one way." She said mysteriously. "Oh? Wha-" Rouge grabbed him and pulled him close, giving him a passionate kiss on the lips. Knuckles found himself unable to break away, nor really wanting to do so. So he enjoyed it, returning the kiss. After a full minute, Rouge broke away from him and pressed a piece of paper into his hand. She whispered, "See you later." Into his ear, kissed him on the cheek, and headed off, gliding away. Knuckles stood there for another minute, stunned by what had just happened. When he finally came to his senses, he looked at the piece of paper. It had her phone number written on it.  
  
There! I have completed this chapter after a couple of hours of work! How is it? I bet you didn't expect something like THIS to happen, did you? Next time will be the second to last chapter in the Hero Story. I hope you like it, and what's coming next. Please don't forget to review. 


	12. Crazy Gadget

How are you all? I hope you enjoyed the romantic scene with Rouge and Knuckles. I've always thought they would make a good couple. And I decided to give them a bit of closure, instead of leaving you speculating like in the real Sonic Adventure 2. That's also part of why I did the whole Shadow/Amy thing and the Chao love. However, I am sad to say that the happiness in the last couple of chapters must come to a cease. This chapter and the next are the end of the Hero Story. After it's done, I'll write the Dark Story, and then the Last Story. I think you will like both. In the meantime, as I said, things are about to get far more serious. Starting here, the fun is over. I assure you, there will be more than one real death before it's finished. You'll be reaching for tissues after this level is over, because the cutscene after is one of the most sad and touching of all. One more thing. Whatever you do, in this story or the Dark one, do NOT feel sorry for Snively. Not even for a moment. Disclaimer: I only own the Passion, Angel, Devil, Eggchao, the Chao egg, the Snivel Walker, and some other stuff. (Oh, and I changed my mind, Sonic is not going to appear in this universe at all. Also, I am not even remotely trying to suggest a Sonic/Tails relationship. That would be disgusting! Actually, I originally considered using Robotnik as the Hero walker character and giving Amy missions of her own. But that idea flopped.)  
  
Day X, 11:30 PM  
  
The door slid open. Shadow walked inside. He was inside the colony's control room; a chamber built into the shaft of the cannon. A catwalk led over the abyss to the controls in the center of the room, several circular holographic displays set at multiple levels, a complex control panel and holographic screen, and in the very center of the cylindrical mass, a pillar with seven sockets in it. A tube-like mechanism was positioned over the center of the pillar, a beam of blue light shooting from the mechanism and into the pillar. Six of the seven sockets were filled with glowing Super Emeralds. One remained empty. Shadow was relieved to finally be here, and not out in the hallways. For some reason, something about the ARK was vaguely familiar to him. Whenever he passed an intersection, he felt like there had once been somebody he had known, lots of people he had once met but were long gone. Shadow pulled out the fake Emerald and switched on his communicator. "Doctor, I've made it to the control room. What do I do now?" There was no reply. "Come on doc, talk me through this." There was still no reply. "Hello? Doctor Robotnik? Can you hear me?" "Oh, I can hear you loud and clear, Shadow." Said a nefarious voice at the other end. Shadow gasped. "Snively! What have you done with Robotnik?" Snively giggled malevolently. "Nothing, yet. If you want to save the dear doctor, the egg, and the Chao from certain death, meet me at observation deck B. I'm sure you can get there with the map that the doctor must have provided you." Shadow grimaced. "Yes, I can get there." "Good! You have five minutes. Get here too late, and the doctor, the Chao, and the egg die. Tata!" Snively cut off the line. Shadow immediately called Amy. "Amy, come in! Do you read me ?" "Loud and clear, Shadow. What is it?" she said. "Snively's got Robotnik and the Chao cornered at observation deck B! Meet me there, quickly. I don't have much time." said Shadow. "Got that, Shadow. See you soon!" Amy cut off the line. Shadow started to head for the door. He paused and turned, looking longingly at the empty socket and wishing he could just put the Emerald in and be done with it. He sighed and ran out the door.  
  
Stage 12: Crazy Gadget. Mission: Hurry and find Snively.  
  
Shadow started in a huge green hallway, with a very high ceiling and cool transparent flooring. He ran down the hallway, turning left as it curved that way, taking out the floating blob of Artificial Chaos in his path. He ran as far as he could and found a grating blocking his way, going up most of the height of the hallway. Noticing a large switch in front of him, Shadow thought this would be the way to lower the grating. He flipped the switch and was astonished when suddenly, gravity was reversed! He fell through the air, quickly activating his jets and landing on the ceiling. After taking a moment to adjust his bearings, he realized he could no go over, er, under the grating. He walked across the ceiling, noticing that right past the grating was a huge pool of toxic waste. Good thing he wasn't down there. He ran to the end of the ceiling, finding another switch. He flipped it, and was flung back to the ground below. He landed on normal floor, past the toxic waste. He ran through the corridor ahead, coming into a tall room with two pod machines next to a tube with an opening facing him. Guarding the tube were two Hunters with laser guns and shields. The robots raised their big shields, hiding from the danger he represented. Shadow somersaulted under the shields, destroying the robots. He jumped into the tube and was shot upward like a cannonball, coming out in a room with a huge toxic waste pit and a bridge leading right over it, stopping in front of a switch and a wall that almost touched the ceiling. Shadow ran down the bridge and hit the switch. He was flung onto the room's ceiling. He somersaulted under the wall and continued on his way. The room on the other end was tall as the last one, but not very big. Shadow hit another switch, landing on the floor again. He went through a corridor and came out in yet another huge hallway, with a toxic waste pit in front of him. He saw a rail over the waste and jumped on, grinding down its length. The rail ended at a platform in front of another pit of toxic waste. Shadow jumped onto a second rail and grinded over it, ending up on solid ground. He went forward, following into a deeper part of the room, where he was faced with a gravity switch and a floating Artificial Chaos. He killed the blob, then hit the switch, reversing gravity. Once he was on the ceiling, he saw a group of electrified Beetles and a hole in the ceiling, He ran by the Beetles and down the hole, falling into a corridor. He ran down the corridor, in the direction where the gravity switch had been in the last room, and came to a door that opened automatically as he approached. He went into the tall room and found another cool tube. He jumped into the tube and was shot to another chamber, coming out on the roof of a long room. He saw a few Artificial Chaos, which started shooting lasers at him. Shadow ran for the monsters, putting them out of their misery with a couple of homing attacks. He ran towards the wall at the end of the ceiling, where he flipped a gravity switch and landed on the floor, near lots of metal and iron crates. He hit a spring in the corner of the room, landing on the higher floor of the next room, passing under the wall on the ceiling. In front of him was another toxic pit, with a rail on either side. He chose a rail and grinded down it, coming to solid ground. A high wall almost touched the ceiling, a gravity switch at its base. Shadow flipped the gravity switch and landed on the ceiling. He somersaulted under the wall and continued on his way. He ran down the ceiling, hitting a gravity switch at the end and landing on solid ground after a toxic pit. He ran through a door and found himself on a ledge out in space. He could see several dozen floating Artificial Chaos hovering over the gap, the door back in on the other side. Shadow Homing Attacked across the chain of Artificial Chaos, landing on the ledge and running through the door. He entered a room with a pit of toxic waste in the middle and a gravity switch on the end. There was a bridge over the pit. Shadow ran across and saw for the first time, a blob of Artificial Chaos guarding the switch. As he was about to attack, the machine, the water fell off of the robot head, forming into several dozen miniature Artificial Chaos. Shadow ran back down the bridge, not wanting to get mobbed by the monsters. He curled into a ball and started spinning, charging up an attack. As lights swirled around him, he got up, a glowing hedgehog. "There's no time for games!" he yelled, before unleashing the Light Attack and wiping out every Artificial Chaos in the room. Now on the other side, Shadow hit the gravity switch and fell onto the ceiling. He somersaulted under the low wall ahead of him and hit another gravity switch, falling to the ground in front of another toxic pit. There were several floating platforms moving across the pit. Shadow jumped across the platforms, smashing Beetles that were guarding some of them. He reached the other end of the pit, entering the room beyond. Inside was another tube mechanism guarded by a pair of Shield Hunters. Shadow made quick work of the robots and jumped into the tube, shot upwards to another room. He popped out of the tube and saw he was in a corridor with a couple of Hornets. He destroyed the Hornets before they could shoot him, going through the door at the other end. He was in a room containing a long red beam with swinging spiked balls and a Beetle atop it. A door was the end. Shadow walked along the beam, jumped over the spiked balls, Homing Attacked the Beetle, and ran through the door. He was in another long room, with a barrier preventing him from walking forward. He flipped a gravity switch, landing on the ceiling. Shadow found a missile and a button to activate it. He stepped on the button, firing the missile towards a cage containing a gravity switch and destroying it. (The cage, not the switch.) Shadow ran along the ceiling and hit the switch, landing behind the barrier and in front of a catwalk between two small toxic pits. An Artificial Chaos similar to the one that had spawned miniatures before floated in the middle of the walkway. Warily, Shadow approached the robot. The Artificial Chaos spawned several dozen offspring, just as Shadow had expected. He ran back, to the edge of the barricade and curled into a ball, charging up. The spawn of Artificial Chaos wriggled closer and closer. Lights raced around Shadow. He stood up, glowing. "There's no time for games!" he yelled, unleashing the Light Attack and killing all the silicon lifeforms. He ran down the catwalk and into an alcove with a gravity switch. He flipped it, and was sent up through a hole in the alcove, falling, falling, falling, until he reached the ceiling of another huge room with plenty of enemies scattered about on multiple walls, and a big, big toxic pit on the floor. Shadow bit his lip and ran down the ceiling, destroying every Artificial Chaos in his path. At the end of the room were three gravity switches, one pointing left, one pointing down, and one pointing right. Shadow looked down and saw the toxic pit, so that obviously wasn't the right choice. He looked left and saw nothing but lots of enemies and a gravity switch that would send him to the right wall. Shrugging, he flipped the switch on the right, and was sent towards the right hand wall. He saw a rail going down and under the wall the gravity switches had been at the base at, probably leading to the exit. He killed the Hawks and Artificial Chaos in his way and jumped onto the rail, grinding down it, going inches over the toxic waste as he went under the wall and into a wide, low tunnel. The rail ended on the right wall, of course, where he flipped a gravity switch pointing downwards, landing on a platform in front of a door. He went through the door and found himself in a room with two toxic pits, a door at the far end, and another Artificial Chaos. Not wanting to bother with the spawn again, Shadow ran towards the monster and jumped up right as it unleashed its offspring, launching into a Homing Attack and destroying the monster and the little ones. He went through the door at the end, entering a room with two electric Beetles and a chain of normal ones over a pit of toxic waste. He ran to the edge of the pit and waited for the Beetles' electric shields to go down. When he did, he launched into a series of Homing Attacks, getting across the pit and running through the door at the other end. He groaned when he saw what was on the other side. He was in space again. Floating before him were several huge colored blocks, each with multiple sides, enemies, and gravity switches. There were crates, missiles, and rockets over the expanse. Right in front of him was a rocket aiming for a yellow block. He sighed and grabbed on. The rocket launched, dropping him on the highest face of the yellow block. He killed an Artificial Chaos and hit a spring, launching towards the blue block above him. Just as he thought he was going to land on it, he fell onto the lower tier of the yellow block. He followed the block to the left, finding a gravity switch. He flipped it and was sent up to the underside of the blue block. He saw a rocket near the edge and grabbed it, launching towards the red block. As he passed under it, he let go of the rocket, landing on the block's bottom. He killed the Artificial Chaos around him and saw a gravity switch. He flipped the switch, landing on the purple block below him, next to a cage containing a spring. He walked forward and to the right along the block's top, seeing a chain of stationary Beetles. He homing attacked along and up them, landing on top of the red block above the purple one. He ran to the edge of the red block, seeing he could jump to the blue one. He did so, landing on the top. He killed half a dozen Artificial Chaos and saw a missile aiming for the cage on the purple platform. He pressed the button behind the missile, launching it and destroying the cage. He ran onto a nearby spring and was launched across the gap, landing on the purple platform. He hit the spring and was launched into the air. He bounced of a hovering spring and landed on a part of the yellow block he had not noticed before. He hit the gravity switch nearby and was sent sideways, landing on the green block, next to a normal switch. He hit the switch, activating a rocket nearby. He ran to the edge of the face of the green block and jumped down, landing on a lower tier with the aforementioned rocket on it. He killed the Artificial Chaos in his way and grabbed onto the rocket, launching himself for a block below all the others. He dropped onto the block's face as he went past, landing near a Gravity Switch. He flipped the switch and was sent all the way across the void, landing on the colony's wall. Below him was a gravity switch and a ledge. Shadow ran down the wall and hit the switch, returning gravity to its normal orientation and landing on the ledge. He ran through the door on the ledge, back inside at last. He was in another room with a floating Artificial Chaos and two toxic pits. Shadow ran and jumped towards the robot, using a Homing Attack on it just before it released its children. He ran past where it had been, hitting a spring at the end of the room. He was shot upwards, landing on a high ledge. He ran through the door on the ledge and was in a room with two Shield Hunters and another tube contraption. As the Hunters took aim, Shadow somersaulted under one's shield, destroying it. He repeated the process with the second robot, clearing the room. He jumped into the tube and was shot upward, coming out in a corridor filled with Artificial Chaos, all of which started firing lasers or tried to grab them with their tentacles. With a great deal of difficulty, Shadow eliminated the machines and proceeded down the corridor, finally ending up in the hallway with doors in the sides, indicating he was out of the danger zone. He jumped through the Goal Ring at the middle of the hallway, ending the level.  
  
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A.)  
  
Shadow checked his map and went towards one of the doors in the hallway. It slowly opened as he approached, raising upwards. He went through, the door closing behind him. He was in a large round room with half of the walls covered in big picture windows. The floor was split by a metal cross of sorts, with most of the floor being made of unbreakable glass, giving a person an unobstructed view of the Earth from space. Amy and Angel were in the walker right next to the door. Amy smiled a little as he walked next to them. Shadow smiled back. At the other end of the room, Snively sat in the Snivel Walker, his gun pointed towards Robotnik. A very worried Eggchao clutched his master's leg. Devil held on tightly to the egg, looking a little scared. Snively sneered and waved the gun a little. "Ah, Shadow, you're right on time. A few seconds later and I would have put a bullet through the old man's head." "What do you want, Snively?" asked Shadow. "I know you have the Super Emerald. Come over here and give it to me, and I will let your friends go." Snively said, reaching his free hand out. Shadow kept his expression calm, smiling inside. Perfect! I can kill two birds with one stone! He thought. He pulled out the fake Emerald and started walking across the room. "I'm coming Snively. Just don't hurt the doctor or the deal's off." "I won't hurt him, Shadow. However, I expect you not to play any tricks, or the doctor gets a new breathing hole." Snively said evilly. Robotnik gulped. Shadow walked over the center of the room, where the intersection of the cross was. Suddenly, a glass tube with a weird gadget inside the top shot down from the ceiling, trapping him! He blinked, surprised. "What is this Snively, a roboticizer? You've already tried this on me! We both know that my genetic code is too complex to be converted into digital code." Snively laughed. "Roboticizer? Oh, this no roboticizer Shadow! This is your end!" He snickered, shaking his head. "Did you really think you could fool me with that fake Emerald?" Amy and Shadow both masterfully hid their astonishment. "What are you talking about? This here's the real Emerald!" Shadow said. "Yeah, there's no fake Emerald here." Said Amy. Snively grinned. "You underestimate me, again. While I was unable to get the security cameras back up, I was able to repair most of the sensors strewn throughout the colony. When you got here, my sensors picked up two readings of Chaos energy in the colony apart from the six in the control room. Since there are only seven Super Emeralds and both energy signatures matched that of a Super Emerald, I easily determined that one was a fake. And since one signature was heading to the control room while one was heading for a power generator, that showed the one heading for the control room was the fake, since there would be no reason for you to head for the control room carrying the real Emerald. Simple logic, my opponents, and overconfidence is what has cost you victory!" He laughed a bit, then continued. "And now, to finally rid myself of that which has been a thorn in my side for all these years! That capsule you are trapped in is none other than an escape pod, Shadow! It's rigged to explode when it leaves the atmospheric hemisphere of the colony. Since you only carry a fake Super Emerald, and since I know from the past that you can't use Chaos Control with a Super Emerald, there is no way to escape! And even if you somehow manage to survive the explosion, the explosive decompression of outer space will finish the job! Ahahahahahaha! So," he said, leering down at the black hedgehog. "Do you have any last words to say?" Shadow paused. "Yes, yes I do." "Well go ahead, say your good-byes. You're not going to be seeing any of these people ever again, you know." Said Snively as he put away the gun and lounged back in his seat. Shadow took a deep breath and looked at Robotnik. "Doctor." He hesitated, a pained look on his face. "Doctor, I want to thank you for everything you've done for me over the years. You pulled me from that cryogenic capsule, healed me and tried to fix my forgotten memory. You were the one who inspired me the most to start fighting against evil, beginning when Snively first betrayed you. After that, I kept feeling like we were getting closer. You helped introduce me to Amy, and encouraged our first date which ended up in the relationship we have now." He paused, then continued, looking very sad. "I just want to say that I have always thought of you as my father." Robotnik sniffed, tears forming underneath his dark glasses. "Shadow.my son." he whispered to himself. Shadow turned to see Devil. "Devil, you've been my Chao for as long as I can remember. We've been friends for a long time, haven't we?" Devil nodded slowly. "When you evolved to the Chaos level, I was so proud that my Chao was one of the few to ever reach this level, one of the best. I was just as proud when you got your black belt in Chao karate, and won the grand prize at the Chao races." Shadow managed a smile. "But none of that amounts to how proud I am of you now, standing there with an egg, a father. I admit being a little envious that you got to this with Angel before I could with Amy, but I'm still proud of what you've managed to do." He looked at his feet for a moment. "Devil, I want you to promise me something. Take good care of the baby, will you? Enjoy fatherhood, and making a family. I know I never will." Devil stood stock still, eyes watering up. Slowly, finally, Shadow turned to face Amy. "Amy.what can I say? Nothing, except that I'm sorry." "S-sorry for what?" Amy asked, trying not to cry. "I'm sorry for not being able to fulfill my promise to you. I am sorry that neither of us will get to experience the wedded bliss we have been hoping for all these years." He shook his head, reminiscing a little. "You know, when I was first introduced to you, when Robotnik told me Big had created a possible mate for me, I was apprehensive. I didn't want something artificial, something that was a female copy of me. But it turned out you were more than I had ever expected. When we had our first adventure together, when Snively tried to launch the Death Snivel for the first time, you showed incredible skill and prowess. I was starting to like you then. But when he tried to launch it for the third time, with the power of the Master Emerald, we had to use the Chaos and Super Emeralds to transform. Remember that Amy? How we destroyed the ship and Snively's robot weapon together? I think after that is when I first realized how I felt. When I first realized that I loved you." "Shadow." Amy whispered, inaudibly. Shadow looked deep into her eyes. "I love you, Amy. There is nothing more I have to say." Snively snorted. "How revolting. Are you quite done with your sappy speeches and farewells?" Shadow turned around and glared at his enemy. "Yes, I'm done." "Good!" Snively whipped out his gun and fired three shots to his right before anyone could move. The first bullet hit Robotnik in the stomach, rupturing his liver. He gasped in pain and fell over, blood welling up from the hole in his red jacket. The second bullet struck Eggchao between the eyes, ripping a hole through his head. He was dead before he hit the ground. The third and final bullet hit the Chao egg, shattering it and killing the Chao embryo inside. Devil screeched in shock as the pieces of his unborn offspring clattered to the floor. As Shadow, Amy, Angel and Devil looked at Snively in horror, the villain slammed a button on his control panel. "Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog!" he yelled as the pod rumbled and was ejected through a hatch that opened and quickly closed in the floor. The capsule could be seen hurtling away from the colony. It reached a certain point and exploded into a million pieces. Devil screamed and ran up to a picture window, pressing his face against the glass and crying. Amy looked out the window in disbelief as the explosion faded and the remaining debris tumbled through space. Shadow was gone, the true love of her life dead. Snively laughed maniacally. "At last! AT LAST! After all these years, I've finally done it! Shadow the Hedgehog is dead! Ahahahahahahaha! The old man isn't dead yet, but will be soon! His pathetic little pet is dead, and that runt of an egg is destroyed as well! All I have to do now is eliminate you, the echidna, the bat and the lizard and all my enemies will be gone forever! Ahahahahahahaha!" He smirked. His eyes had a terrifying insane gleam in them. It was clear that Snively had lost it. "Now Amy, be a good girl and hand over the Super Emerald. I promise to kill you immediately if you do so, sparing you the agony of the slow death I have planned otherwise." Angel started crying, the loss of her baby striking her. Amy stared at him for a few seconds, mouth open, tears streaming from her eyes. "You.you.you MONSTER! YOU'VE KILLED MY CHAO'S BABY! YOU'VE KILLED EGGCHAO! YOU'VE KILLED THE ONLY PERSON I'VE EVER LOVED! IF YOU THINK I'M JUST GOING TO HAND OVER THE EMERALD, YOU HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING, BASTARD!" Snively seemed a little taken aback. He turned angry. "You dare talk to me that way?! I am Snively, Emperor of the World! Forget mercy, I'll kill you now!" He put away the gun and readied his walker for combat. "I'm going to do what Shadow never managed to do, and kill you once and for all! This is for Shadow, Snively. DIE!!!!" Tears streaking down their cheeks, Amy and Angel charged towards Snively, both of them fueled by anger beyond belief, one for the loss of her child, one for the loss of her lover.  
  
DR. SNIVELY  
  
Amy smashed into Snively, sending the walker a few steps backwards. She ran forward and started hitting him over and over again with the Passion's hammer, damaging it with each hit. Snively activated his boxing glove, delivering a punch string enough to knock the Passion back quite a bit. Apparently Snively had souped up his walker since their last fight. Snively locked on to Amy and fired, causing damage. Amy ran forward again, firing repeatedly from her cannon while Angel locked on to Snively and fired laser blast after laser blast, each hitting Snively and causing more and more damage. She got really close to Snively and fired the hammer, cannon, and laser all at once, exploding between the two walkers and damaging them both. Snively tried to punch Amy. She responded by immediately blasting the boxing glove, destroying it. Snively started getting more aggressive, running around the room and firing laser blasts at Amy. To avoid the lock on laser, she jumped and hovered in the air, over the range for his laser targeting. He jumped into the air as well, hovering, locking on, and firing a blast at her. Amy fell to the floor, her hovering system temporarily disrupted. Snively stayed in the air and fired multiple blasts from his cannon, a few of which hit Amy as she ran around the room. Snively landed and ran towards her, trying to lock on. Angel tried to lock on to the tyrant, but he jumped and hovered again, shooting more precise cannon blasts. The Passion shook a bit. Amy punched a button on her console. Small hatches opened on her legs. Rockets fired out of the holes, streaming towards Snively. Surprised, he couldn't move away in time and was hit by the dozen explosives. His walker shook terribly. "Wh-where did you get that rocket launcher?!" he shouted. "You stole the weapons in the shuttle, didn't you? Well, if you think they're going to help you, you're wro-" While Snively had been talking, Angel and Amy had both fired their weapons at him, causing more damage. Snively wobbled as the walker shook. "Okay, that does it!" Snively activated his own Rocket Launcher, firing the missiles at Amy. Amy ran right towards Snively, the missiles exploding around and sometimes on her, ramming into Snively and hitting him with her hammer. Snively fired his cannon at extremely close range, damaging both of the walkers. Amy shook it off and started whacking him again with her hammer. Snively locked on and fired at close range. Angel did the same exact thing and both walkers trembled and stepped back, damaged. Snively ran across the room, zigzagging to avoid the shots fired at him. He turned around and pressed another button on his console. The lens on the front of his vehicle started glowing. Amy knew what this meant and started to run out of Snively's line of fire. The evil scientist fired his Power Laser, sweeping the enormous beam towards Amy. As the laser was about to hit her, Amy jumped and hovered over the beam, going towards Snively. She landed right behind him and started whacking him with her hammer before he could turn around and hit her with the Power Laser. When he did turn around, she just hovered over him and kept whacking away with the hammer. Finally, the laser was cut off. Snively shot his cannon, knocking Amy back and damaging both walkers. Amy had enough of playing around. She pressed another button on her walker as Snively locked on and fired a few laser blasts. The jet intake on the front of the Passion on the front of the nozzle started to glow. Snively's eyes widened in surprise. He tried to get out of the way, but was too late. The Power Laser fired, hitting Snively. The massive laser sliced through his defenses, causing massive damage to the Snivel Walker. He screamed and pulled out of the beam, somehow still active! It seemed he had really done a number on the walker to make it strong enough to resist the Power Laser. He used the same strategy Amy had, jumping and hovering over the laser and trying to get behind Amy. However, as he had started to land, Amy spun the Passion around, giving him another dose of the Power Laser at close range. He tried to get away, but since he was already so close, she just kept turning to keep him in the full focus of the beam. Finally, she cut the beam off. Snively's walker creaked and moaned. Smoke was starting to seep from some of the joints. Snively hacked on the smoke, growled, and charged forward, slamming into the Passion. They both fired their cannons and laser blasters at close range, damaging the conditions of their respective vehicles even further. As Snively frantically tried to fire again, Amy and Angel fired all their long-range weapons at once, the cannon, the Laser Blaster, the Rocket Launcher, and the Power Laser. The four attacks hit Snively for incredible damage. His walker quaked and fell to the ground, smoking. Amy and Angel were triumphant, but it seemed to be a hollow victory. Amy looked down, still crying. "Shadow, I did it." she whispered. Angel suddenly yelped, trying to get Amy's attention. Amy looked up and saw the Snivel Walker was on its feet again! "What? No! I beat you!" Snively laughed. "Wrong! As you saw before, I've upgraded my walker! Aside from being stronger, I reinforced the armor with titanium! Those attacks of yours hurt a great deal, but not enough to destroy the Snivel Walker!" He pulled out his gun and fired a very precise bullet at the knee joint of the Passion's left leg. Already damaged enough by the battle, the Passion buckled and fell over, the right leg shorting out. Snively came closer, looming over Amy, who had fallen out of her cockpit. He chuckled and brought his gun to bear. "Well Amy, it seems history has repeated itself. You've lost, like you did back on Prison Island. It seems you are destined to fail, my dear." A smile creeped onto his lips. "This time, nothing is going to stop me from killing you. Say hi to your boyfriend for me when you get to the other side, okay?" His finger tightened on the trigger. There was one thing he hadn't counted on, though. Angel was still sitting behind the Laser Blaster. Despite the weird angle she was at, she had locked on to Snively's gun while he had been talking. As he was about to fire, Angel shot a laser blast, striking the gun and causing it to explode right in Snively's hand. He screamed and clutched his right hand, now burnt and blackened beyond recovery, another body part lost to him. However, this time he would not get a chance to replace with a robotic appendage. Amy stood up, pulling the Piko Piko Hammer from the dimensional pocket. Screaming out a battlecry, she smashed her hammer into the Snivel Walker's left leg. The force of her blow smashed through the reinforced armor and completely destroyed the joints and servos, severing the lower left leg from the rest of the body. Snively wailed as the vehicle toppled over, causing him to fall from his seat. As he grunted and got up, he saw Amy looming over him. She swung the hammer down at him. Snively tried to block it with his right arm. The powerful blow from Amy's hammer broke the robot arm, severing it at the elbow. It fell to the floor, useless. He gaped. Amy cried out and used her Hammer Whirl, smashing into Snively's chest and sent him hurtling into a wall, breaking his artificial ribs. He yelled in pain. He had never actually been hurt directly in a battle with Shadow or the others; the only damage was caused when his final vehicle blew up, costing him a body part. Amy slowly walked over to him, holding the hammer tightly. Snively looked up, trembling, as the pink hedgehog stood over him. "M-mercy, please." he managed to say. "Mercy?" she asked coldly. "When have you ever showed mercy, Snively? To your victims, to my friends and me? To Shadow? No, you deserve no mercy, tyrant. And so I will show you none in return." She raised her hammer high. "I promised never to kill a human. I think for you, I'll make an exception." Snively tried to scurry away, but she planted a foot on his chest to hold him down. She met his eyes. There was fear in them. Good. She brought the hammer down in the most powerful smash she had ever performed. Blood sprayed onto her dress, making it a little redder than before. She dropped the hammer, now soaked with Snively's blood, and walked over to the windows, staring at where the escape pod had exploded. She fell to her knees and began sobbing. Angel fell out of the Laser Blaster seat and limped over to Robotnik, who wasn't dead just yet. She climbed onto his chest and placed her hands around the wound, concentrating. As her healing magic began, the bullet levitated out of the hole, dropping onto the floor. The hole started to seal up. Angel let go, panting, as the wound was sealed up, his liver rapidly healing. Robotnik would be up soon, and able to mourn with the rest of them. Angel got off of Robotnik's chest and limped over to her love, who was still pressed against the window. She touched his shoulder. Devil slowly turned around, his wet eyes staring into her own. They broke down and hugged each other, tears falling to the ground.  
  
It's done. The longest and possibly saddest chapter in the whole Shadow Adventure 2 saga. The next chapter is the last in the Hero Story, and then the Dark will begin. I hope you will keep reading. Please review. 


	13. Final Run

I'm sorry if my last chapter was too sad or violent. I was trying to portray Snively as a real villain, not a clown. In any case, this is the chapter you've been waiting for, the final confrontation between Shadow and Scales. After this, the Dark story will begin. Thank you for reading my story, and enjoy the rest of the ride. Disclaimer: Need I say it?  
  
Day X, 11:44 PM  
  
Knuckles walked down the hallways inside the ARK, whistling happily to himself. He was on top of the world. He had gotten the Master Emerald back, and what's more, he had finally found an end to his longtime loneliness as Guardian of the Emerald. He would be sure to call Rouge up the minute he got home, unless he saw her before he left the ARK and convinced her to come back on the shuttle with him. However, he was a little uneasy. In his mind, he could just picture a little cartoon angel and devil Knuckles arguing about what he should do about Rouge. Here is how he imagined the conversation.  
  
ANGEL KNUX: I think he should leave well enough alone. DEVIL KNUX: What are you talking about? He should get together with Rouge! ANGEL: He has a job to do. Guardian of the Master Emerald is a full-time job. The Guardian cannot stop to form a lasting relationship. DEVIL: If that's true, then how come every Guardian ends up having kids? ANGEL: Er, you have a point. Well, uh, he can't form a relationship with a bat! DEVIL: Why not? ANGEL: They're of the wrong species. DEVIL: Oh, don't give me that! If we echidnas hadn't branched out with different anthropomorphs, we would have died out long ago! Lots of anthropomorphs date outside their species. As long as the significant other isn't human, there's no conflict. In almost all cases, the children are not crossbreeds but are simply deriving from one of their parents' species. ANGEL: Well, yes, but as Guardian, Knuckles has a different obligation. He has to find an echidna female to continue the traditional line of Guardians. If his firstborn male is a bat, the tradition will be broken. DEVIL: Tradition's already been broken, pal. The Guardian isn't supposed to leave the Island for any reason, isn't that right? Well he's done it several times now, without repercussions. Another old tradition was that the Super Emeralds were to remain on Angel Island, but after the Death Snivel incident they were scattered around the globe. These are only two of many examples of this. ANGEL: Well, yeah, but she's a thief! He has to stay committed to his job, not to a gem-obsessed female who might steal the Master Emerald again at any time, no matter how attractive she might be! DEVIL: I think there's something you're forgetting. ANGEL: What? DEVIL: We are both only figments of Knuckles' imagination and conscience. As of such, we both have the same feelings about things that he does. ANGEL: So? DEVIL: So that means since Knuckles now seems to be in love with Rouge, we are as well! ANGEL: Are not! DEVIL: Oh yeah? (Pulls out a picture of Rouge in only her underwear) ANGEL: (Silent because he's too busy drooling over the picture Devil Knuckles pulled out)  
  
Knuckles chuckled to himself over the imagined antics of his conscience, before snapping out of his humor when his Chaos senses went off. "What? Impossible! I have the Master Emerald, what could be setting off-" There was a flash of green light and Shadow appeared right above Knuckles, falling onto the echidna. Shadow quickly got up. "Whoops, sorry buddy." Knuckles grunted and got up. "It's okay." Knuckles noticed Shadow holding a large green jewel. "Isn't that-" "My Chaos Emerald? Yes, it is." Said Shadow. Knuckles was confused. "But I thought you said GUN confiscated the Emerald!" "They did." Shadow replied. "Then how did you get it?" Knuckles asked. Shadow looked at the Chaos Emerald. "I was about to shut down the cannon for good with a fake Super Emerald designed to disrupt the power of the real ones, when Snively informed me that he had captured Robotnik and the Chao and was waiting for me. I rushed over as fast as I could, after telling Amy to meet me there. When I arrived, Snively demanded I give him the Super Emerald or he would kill the hostages. I thought I would just give him the Super Emerald and be done with it, but he tricked me! He knew I had a fake Emerald, and launched me into space in a bombed escape pod after wounding the doctor, killing Eggchao, and destroying the unborn child of Angel and Devil." "Oh man." Said Knuckles, distraught. "I was desperate. I knew I had to escape, to finish the job and not let Amy be heartbroken. I tried to use Chaos Control with the fake Super, and I failed. I was about to give up hope when there was a flash of Chaos Control, and my Emerald appeared! I grabbed it and warped out of the escape pod, right before it blew." Said Shadow. "How did the Emerald warp by itself?" Knuckles asked. Shadow shrugged. "I really don't know. I should count myself lucky, I wasn't really picking any place in particular to warp to, just onto the ARK." He frowned. "What time is it?" "I think it's maybe a quarter to midnight." Said Knuckles. Shadow nearly jumped. "Damn! I don't have much time. I can't warp anywhere near the control room, the energy from the Super Emeralds interferes with that of the Chaos." Knuckles suddenly got an inspiration. "Wait! Maybe you can race to the tip of the cannon and slam dunk the fake Super Emerald in at the last minute, disrupting the combined energy of the Super Emeralds and stopping the firing sequence!" Shadow stared at his friend for a minute. "Knuckles, that may be one of the craziest ideas I've ever heard. Unfortunately, I don't have much of a choice." He thought a moment. "I can only Chaos Control to a place that I've seen before. I haven't seen the area around the cannon needle, so I'll have to get there on foot. Where's the nearest hatch to space?" "Right over there." Said Knuckles, pointing to a door labeled, "THIS WAY TO ECLIPSE CANNON" right behind Shadow. Shadow turned around. "Oh, how convenient." He headed for the door, which opened automatically, revealing a long passage out into space. Right in front of the entrance was a rocket, waiting for use. Shadow turned around. "Knuckles, could you please do a favor for me?" "Yeah, what is it?" the red echidna asked. "Could you please get to observation deck B and tell the others that I'm still alive?" Shadow asked. Knuckles nodded. "Sure, I can do that." Shadow was about to grab the rocket, when he turned around again. "Oh, and tell Amy I love her, all right?" "Gotcha." Shadow smiled and grabbed onto the rocket, shooting down the passage. Knuckles was about to head off when he suddenly realized something. He ran over to the door and yelled, "Wait! Where's observation deck B?" at Shadow. The black hedgehog was too far away to hear. Knuckles sighed and walked away, hoping he would be able to find the observation deck.  
  
Stage 13: Final Run. Mission: Hurry and find the point the cannon.  
  
Shadow let go of the rocket as he reached the end of the passage, dropping onto a long, curving rail. He grinded down the rail, passing through a dozen spinning rings that increased his speed, and jumping from the end. He landed on another rail just ahead and to his left, grinding across it and towards a vertical rail. He jumped off the current rail at its end and used a Homing Attack to get onto the rail, grinding up it to a platform with a spring. He ran down the platform and onto the spring, bouncing off it and onto another platform with a dash panel placed in front of a rail. He ran onto the dash panel, speeding onto and across the rail, jumping off at the end and landing on another rail to his right. He grinded down the rail and landed on a catwalk. He ran down the catwalk and onto a rail, grinding along its length to another catwalk. He ran down the catwalk, which extended into a long path. He ran between two metal boxes and down a hill, hitting some dash panels on the way and going into a triple loop. He ran along the three loops, hitting a jump plate at the end and launching into the air. He fell for several seconds before landing on a purple rail. He grinded down the rail, landing on a platform with a spring. He bounced off the spring in the middle of the platform, hurtled through the air, and landed on a long, twisting rail, passing through many speed rings as he grinded down its length. At the end was a catwalk with two Artificial Chaos. As the robotic blobs fired their lasers at him, Shadow jumped up and hit them with Homing Attacks, destroying them. He ran down the catwalk, jumping onto the rail at the end and following it down. After grinding along a few twists and turns, coming close to hitting the walls of the towers jutting from the colony's surface, Shadow landed on another long path. He ran down it and was attacked by a Hornet holding nine missiles. As the robot prepared to fire, Shadow eliminated it with a Homing Attack and kept going. He ran down a hill ahead of him, running over a couple of dash panels and going through four loops, something he had never done before. He hit a dash plate at the end of the fourth loop and was launched into space. He activated his hover shoes, slowing his fall and landing on a short rail. He grinded down the rail and onto a catwalk. He ran down the catwalk and onto the next rail, grinding down its curving, downhill length and landing on a catwalk leading to two vertical rails. Shadow ran to the end of the catwalk and used a Homing Attack, jumping onto one of the rails and grinding up it. He jumped off at the top and ran down the catwalk before him, coming to a single vertical rail. He Homing Attacked onto the rail and grinded up it, jumping off the top and landing on a catwalk leading into a tower. He ran inside and found a small room with two Artificial Chaos and three colored holes in the ground. He killed the Chaos and peeked into the three holes. The two on the right and left only led to springs at the bottom. The middle hole opened onto space. Shadow dropped through the middle hole, falling out of the bottom of the tower and landing on a rail. He grinded down the rail, following its twists, curves, and turns, passing through dozens of speed rings and avoiding the laser fire of Artificial Chaos, before finally reaching a catwalk. He ran along the catwalk and down a steep hill, running over three dash panels in succession and going through a total of five loops before hitting a jump plate and launching into the air. He landed on a catwalk and ran down it, bouncing off a spring at the end pointing at a floating spring. Shadow bounced off the floating spring, hit a spring attached to a wall, bounced to hit a spring higher pup, and was finally bounced onto a ledge right below the spring with a rail leading away from the side. He jumped onto the rail and grinded down it, turning left and passing through lots of speed rings before turning right at the bottom a steep incline, going straight for a while. He eventually reached a catwalk and got off the rail. He ran down the catwalk and onto a steep hill. He ran down the hill, hit five dash panels, and ripped through no lees than six loops before coming to the end, a platform with three dash panels in front of three very tall vertical rails. Already moving fast, Shadow ran over the dash panel and onto the rail, his extreme momentum carrying him all the way up the rail. He leaped off the top and landed on a catwalk near a large blue building. He saw a vertical rail at the right edge of the catwalk. Shadow ran over to the edge and performed a Homing Attack, getting onto the rail and grinding upward. The rail came to a point, then went horizontal and downward, leading towards the blue building. It stopped at a tunnel going through the tower. Shadow ran through the tunnel and came out onto a ledge. In front of him was a rail. He jumped on the rail and started grinding down it, heading downwards and to the left. It leveled out a little and curved to the left, towards another building. The rail passed under the building, stopping at a platform. Shadow got onto the platform and saw two other platforms next to him. He jumped across tot he second platform and saw a rail going up and away from the platform, over the end of the tower. Shadow used a Homing Attack to gain the momentum allowing him to go up the rail, which went a short distance, clearing the underside of the building. It stopped on a platform, near a chain of floating blobs of Artificial Chaos. Shadow Homing Attacked along the robot blobs, landing on a rail. He grinded down the curving rail, picking up speed by passing through rings. He jumped off the end of the rail and grinded up the vertical rail in front of him. He leaped off the top and onto another rail, grinding down it towards another vertical rail. He crouched down to pick up speed, so he was launched off the end of the rail and went right up the vertical one. He jumped off at the top and went down a long, twisting rail, passing through several speed rings and finally stopping on a catwalk. He jumped onto the rail at its end, grinding down its length and between two buildings. He crouched on the rail, picking up speed as he also gained more speed by passing through rings. It twisted and curved a bit, finally stopping and launching Shadow into the air. He fell, slowing his descent with his shoe's jets, landing on a platform with a rocket on it. He grabbed the rocket and was launched across space, dropping onto another platform as he started to pass over it. He jumped from that platform to the one ahead of him, bouncing off a spring on the platform and onto a catwalk. He ran down the catwalk, towards a set of vertical rails. He Homing Attacked onto the rails and grinded up them, landing on another catwalk with a rail leading between another pair of buildings. Shadow grinded down the rail, picking up speed by crouching and passing through rings. He jumped off the end of the rail, plummeting. Far below him, he saw a couple of horizontal rails, set close to one another. Shadow slowed his descent and tried to position himself so he would land on a rail. If he missed, that wasn't too bad. He could just use Chaos Control to warp right onto the rail if he missed it. He landed on a rail and started grinding along it, passing through a lot of speed rings, going by lots of floating Artificial Chaos, and taking lots of twists and turns before finally reaching a catwalk. He saw another catwalk set at a lower level. He used a Homing Attack to jump across the gap between the catwalks, falling onto the platform. He walked forward along the catwalk, dropping down to another one with a vertical rail at the end. He Homing Attacked onto the rail and grinded up it, reaching yet another catwalk. He ran down the catwalk and onto the rail at the end, grinding along its length and into an alcove inside a building. He ran inside and found a room with three holes, two Artificial Chaos, and a giant weight that raised and fell over the middle hole. Shadow quickly killed the Artificial Chaos, then timed the weight. Just when it began to rise, Shadow somersaulted under it and fell down the hole, praying that there wasn't actually a spring at the bottom that would send him right back up the hole and into the weight, which would smash his head. There was no spring at the bottom. Instead, he fell onto a steep hill. As he started to run down the hill, he heard a rumbling noise. He looked behind him and saw a huge mass of scrap metal rolling towards him! Apparently, this was a garbage chute, and if he wasn't careful, he could be incinerated by the furnace at the bottom or crushed by the junk! He ran as fast as he could, staying ahead of the garbage. He saw a spring up ahead. Dodging a piece of scrap twice his size, Shadow hit the spring, bouncing through a hole in the ceiling of the chute and ending up back outside. He landed on a long catwalk and started running down it. At the end was a rail. He jumped onto the rail and grinded down the metal object, heading straight for a field of asteroids. He tensed as the rail twisted around and around the field, bringing him dangerously close to colliding with asteroids. He saw an Artificial Chaos blob ahead, hovering to the side of the rail. It started firing lasers. Knowing that if he were hit, he would fall off the rail, Shadow jumped off and hit the blob with a Homing Attack. He then immediately did a Homing Attack backwards, hitting a spring on a nearby asteroid and bouncing back onto the rail. He grinded down the rest of the rail, ducking whenever he came close to getting his head knocked off by a space rock, finally coming out of the field and stopping at a catwalk. He ran down the catwalk and into a tunnel leading through a tower. He came out on the other side on was on a ledge. He looked at what was facing him and moaned. The huge expanse was filled with Artificial Chaos blobs, all of which looked eager to kill something. Shadow could see no platforms or rails anywhere between him and the next building. There was only one thing to do, and he had to do it before the Artificial Chaos took notice of him. He curled into a ball and started spinning in place, lights swirling around him. He got up after a few seconds and started glowing. "There's no time for games!" he yelled, unleashing the Light Attack. It took him a whole minute, even moving at the speed of light, to wipe out all the enemies. He came to the end, landing on a ledge on the building at the other side of the gap. He entered the corridor facing him and saw the Goal Ring, hovering in front of a long, wide green hallway that opened up onto a bridge. He leaped through the Goal Ring, ending the level.  
  
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A.)  
  
Shadow started walking towards the start of the green hallway when he heard a machine noise. He turned around, seeing for the first time a set of elevators next to the corridor he had just exited. One of the elevators opened, and somebody stepped out. That somebody was Scales. Shadow tensed, ready to attack if she made any threatening moves. The cyborg lizard smiled. "I thought I'd find you here, Shadow. I commend you on making it through the last section. It was almost as hard as what I had to get through to arrive here." Shadow frowned. "What, you couldn't just warp here with Chaos Control?' She chuckled. "I could have, but I wanted a little warm-up before our battle." Shadow cocked his head. "So, how did you know I would come here?" Scales shrugged. "Let me put it this way. There is nothing on this colony that I cannot see, if I wish to see it." Shadow sighed and looked down the hallway. "Look, I'd love to talk, but I have a planet to save." He started to walk down the hallway. Scales called out to him. "Shadow, wait!" He turned around. She walked over, standing beside him. "Go out there if you must, but please listen to me first." "I don't have much time." said Shadow. "I know, this will only take a minute." She said. Shadow sighed and folded his arms, listening. "Right now, you are at a crossroads, Shadow. You have a choice to make. You can either go out there and try to stop the cannon from firing or you can stay here and talk with me." "Great, I'll just go now." Said Shadow, taking a step forward. "Hear me out!" said Scales. "If you go out there and stop the cannon, you will undo something that I have been waiting fifty years for, and allow hundreds of people who do not deserve to live to keep going on with life." Shadow blinked in surprise. She was over fifty? "And if I stay here?" he asked. "Then I will make good on my promise of explanations. I will tell you everything, Shadow. Why this place seems familiar to you, how the Chaos Emerald got into your escape pod, how you got to be in the cryogenic capsule you were discovered in, how we know each other, why I am doing all of this, who made you, and most importantly, why you were made. I will tell you all of this if you just stay and listen to me. Please, Shadow," said Scales, her eyes filled with desperation and hope. "Please don't do this. Grant me this one favor, and don't try to stop what I'm doing." Shadow thought, not sure what to do. He wanted to know the answers to the questions she had listed, badly. He didn't know how she knew them, but he needed to know. But at the same time, he thought he had to save those lives. What right did Scales have to say those people deserved to die? It was this that spurred his decision. "I'm sorry." He said. She looked crestfallen. "I have to at least try to save those people. I do want to know the answers to those questions, but when last we fought you promised you would tell me after this was over. And I'm holding you to that promise.' Scales looked very sad. "I was afraid you would decide to do this." She said. She looked up, a fierce look in her eyes. "But I cannot let you succeed. The cannon has to fire Shadow, it absolutely has to. And to that end, I will do everything I can to ensure it will, even if it means hurting you." She closed her eyes for a moment, opening them again and staring directly into Shadow's. "You can Chaos Control if you fall of the edge of the bridge ahead, right?" "Uh, yes." Said Shadow. "Good, I will do the same." She closed her eyes again, as if making up her mind. She stared into Shadow's eyes again, a piercing gaze that made him feel like he was seeing into his mind. Maybe she was. "As I promised last time we met, I will not kill you Shadow." She flexed her muscles, and suddenly blades shot out of concealed folds on her body. Three shot out of the back of her neck, three appeared on both her upper and lower arms and two more appeared on each back-bent leg. "I may, no, will hurt you Shadow, but I will not kill you." She said, sounding like she didn't really want to go through with fighting him. Shadow hesitated. "And I will try to extend the same courtesy to you Scales." She nodded. They walked to the beginning of the green hallway and crouched down, getting ready to run. Shadow turned to the lizard. "Just out of curiosity, how do we know each other? Were you an old girlfriend of mine or something? Because if you are, I have to warn you I'm with Amy now." Scales stared at him for a second, startled. Then she burst into laughter. "Okay, I'll take that as a no. We were not boyfriend and girlfriend." Scales wiped her eyes, which were tearing from the laughter. "Heheheh. Woo, that was a good one. I haven't laughed like that for a very, very long time. Thanks Shadow. No, we were not boyfriend and girlfriend." Shadow nodded. "All right then. Are you ready?" She nodded. "I'm ready." "Then let's-" he started. "GO!" she yelled. They took off, running down the hallway and onto the bridge ahead.  
  
SCALES  
  
They started running down the length of the bridge. It was a very long bridge, going about half a dozen miles in distance before stopping fairly close to the Eclipse Cannon. Even with the speed of these two runners, it would take a little while to reach the point of the cannon. "Before this is over, I will show you the ultimate in Chaos Control!" Scales shouted at him. "Speaking of which, what's with the Emerald in your back? I thought there were only seven Chaos Emeralds!" Shadow yelled back. Scales smiled a little smugly. "All I know is this thing's what keeps me going, and there's some legend behind it. That's all I can tell you now, Shadow. I suggest you start watching yourself." "Oh? Why is that?" he asked. "Because of.THIS!" Scales instantly launched into a Homing Kick, hitting Shadow with the talons on her feet and blades on her leg. She knocked him over with the attack and kept running down the bridge. Shadow grunted and got up, running after her. When Shadow caught up to the lizard, he was amazed with her speed. Even with his frictionless air skates to make him super fast, Scales was able to move every bit as fast as he could. Incredible. He slowed a little, letting her move ahead. Then he launched into a Homing Attack, striking the dome on her back. She stumbled, nearly falling down. Shadow ran past her, intent on his destination. Scales ran after him and hit him in the back with a Homing Kick. She ran past him as the hedgehog got up. He curled into a ball and started spinning. No, lights did not swirl around him. He shot forward in a spindash, racing towards Scales. She heard the whine of his rolling and jumped up, allowing him to pass underneath her. When Shadow stopped and uncurled, Scales hit him from behind with her bladed tail and kept going. Shadow growled and ran after her, launching into a Homing Attack. Scales jumped up, deflecting Shadow in midair and nearly sending him off the bridge. Shadow started his spindash again, but he did not roll right towards her, but rather beside Scales. She watched, bemused, as he slowed his roll to match her speed. That's when Shadow suddenly veered to the left, slamming into her. She caught herself before she could go over the edge and watched, a little angry as Shadow sped off, still rolling. She curled into a ball as well and started spinning. Her spikes stayed out as she launched forward in a spindash that was arguably a little more dangerous than Shadow's. She caught up to him, a rolling black ball leaving a trail of yellow light besides a bigger red- orange ball leaving a trail of green light. She rammed into Shadow, her spikes sparking upon impact with his sharp quills. He leaned back into her, trying to move her over. Sparks kept coming up from the contact of either opponent's sharp protrusions to each other. Shadow moved a little away from Scales, then slammed back into her, causing her to forcibly change course, rolling right towards the edge. Shadow kept going. Scales couldn't uncurl in time and rolled off the edge. She uncurled and quickly yelled, "Chaos Control!" There was a green flash, and she reappeared on the path just ahead of the rolling Shadow. Before he could stop rolling, she swung her tail, knocking him off the bridge. Shadow uncurled and quickly pulled out his Emerald. "Chaos Control!" he vanished in a flash of green light, reappearing on the bridge just as Scales ran by. He ran after her, quickly catching up. She smirked at him. He scowled back and clutched his Emerald, summoning a variation of his usual technique. "Chaos Control!" he yelled. Instead of warping, everything took on a green tinge and Scales stopped moving. Shadow had used a variation of the Chaos Control, instead of teleporting he temporarily froze time. He started running down the bridge. He saw a flash out of the corner of his eye. He turned around and saw Scales running towards him! He quickly looked around. The greenish tinge was still there, so how had she gotten active? "How did you do that? You're supposed to be frozen!" Shadow yelled at the approaching Scales. "I know everything about Chaos Control that you do, Shadow! All I did was take myself temporarily out of synch from the time stream, like you did!" She launched into a Homing kick, hitting Shadow in the chest. She started running down the bridge. He got up and ran after her. Suddenly, the greenish tinge disappeared; showing Chaos Control was no longer in effect. However, Scales had disappeared from the path ahead of him. Where had she gone? He suddenly clutched his chest in pain and fell over as Scales appeared in front of him. Of course, she used the time freeze technique after he did, so it lasted a little longer for him, allowing her to get in an extra hit. "Hey Shadow, how about we don't mess with time freeze techniques and just try to knock one another senseless?" Scales called at him cheerfully. Shadow got up, recovered. "That works for me!" He ran towards her. She went back to running away, down the bridge. He stopped moving and aimed his Chaos Emerald at her, charging up his special attack. It had been a little while since he had used the attack, so it would take a little longer than usual to charge it up. After that, it would become subsequently quicker to fire. "Chaos Spear!" A massive bolt of green lightning burst forth from the Chaos Emerald, hitting Scales in the life support system. She gasped and fell to her knees. Shadow ran past her, taking the lead. Scales picked herself together and stood up. "Two can play at this game, Shadow!" she yelled. She ran after him, charging up her own special attack. She caught up with the hedgehog, running by his side. She cupped her hands and thrusted them at Shadow. "Serpent Strike!" She shouted. A huge green energy blast shaped like a serpent's head shot forth from her hands, hitting Shadow and driving him off the edge of the bridge. Shadow immediately warped back onto the bridge, surprised by the strength of the attack. "I'd better be more careful." He muttered to himself. He ran after her, charging up his Chaos Spear as he went. When they were once more side by side, Shadow aimed his Emerald at Scales as she aimed her hands at him. "Chaos Spear!" "Serpent Strike!" The attacks ran through each other and hit their intended targets, knocking both off of the bridge. Both quickly warped back on the bridge and went back to running. They charged up their attacks again, both of them trying to see who could do it faster. As they unleashed their Chaos- fueled attacks once more on one another, it seemed they could both do it at the same speed. They fell of the bridge and warped back on once more. As both of them started charging their attacks again, Shadow got an idea. He stopped running, allowing Scales to go past while still charging up her move. Shadow curled into a ball and started his spindash charge-up. When Scales turned around and fired the Serpent Strike, Shadow let loose the spindash and ran forward, rolling under the Serpent Strike and hitting Scales, knocking her off her feet. As she tried to get up, he uncurled and hit her with his fully charged Chaos Spear. As she screamed in pain, Shadow started running forward, recharging his Chaos Spear. Scales stood up, recharging the Serpent Strike, and waited a few moments before running after Shadow. When he turned around and fired the Chaos Spear, Scales jumped over the lightning bolt and shot forward with a Homing Kick, hitting Shadow and knocking him down. She ran forward, leaving him in the dust, so to speak. Shadow cursed and got back up. He raised his Emerald. "Chaos Control!" He warped to the path ahead and just to the left of Scales. He stuck out his foot and tripped her before she saw him, knocking her over. He ran forward, getting closer to the cannon. Scales fumed and got up. "Chaos Control!" she yelled, vanishing. Shadow saw a flash of light far up the bridge and wondered what Scales was up to. He kept running for a few seconds, then he saw a bigger flash and the green serpent shooting towards him. Shadow quickly somersaulted under the Serpent Strike and a Chaos Spear down the path, striking Scales. He clutched the Chaos Emerald. "Chaos Control!" he yelled, warping all the way down the bridge, a little past Scales, who was just recovering from the Chaos Spear. He kept running, knowing Scales was right behind him. As she launched into a Homing Kick, he jumped up, deflecting the attack. He kept on going, knowing he had probably a minute and a half left. Scales appeared ahead of him in a flash of green light. Shadow quickly somersaulted, rolling into Scales and knocking her over. He continued running. He could see the huge cannon up ahead, the needle taking up most of his line of sight. Very far ahead, he saw Scales appear in a flash of Chaos Control. Getting an idea, Shadow curled into a ball and started spinning, lights racing around his body. After a few seconds, he got up and started glowing. "There's no time for games!" he yelled. He shot forward at the speed of light, thinking the Light Attack would be the only way to finish this battle and get close to the cannon at the same time. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that Scales knew the Light Attack as well. She raced towards him, once more a spinning, spiked red-orange ball leaving a trail of green light heading for his black ball with a trail of yellow light. The two objects, both moving at the speed of light, collided with an incredible crash, leaving both anthropomorphs stunned and senseless. By the time Shadow and Scales were able to pull themselves together, every clock in the USA struck midnight. Snively's deadline timer went off. The needle slowly, ponderously began to open. Shadow gasped. "The cannon! I've got to stop it! Chaos-" Scales grabbed his leg, flipping him over and dangling him above the ground. The Chaos Emerald fell from his hand, bouncing a few feet away, stopping a little down the path. "Too late. Game over, Shadow." Scales said as the cannon opened completely. The energy started to gather in the center of the cannon. Shadow struggled fiercely, punching Scales in the gut. More surprised than hurt, she let go of him. Shadow rolled over and grabbed the Chaos Emerald. He quickly shouted, "Chaos Control!" and warped to the end of the bridge before Scales could do anything. He reappeared at the very end of the bridge and pulled out the fake Super Emerald. He wound up, ready to throw it. His best guess was that if he threw it at the exact right time, when the collected energy started to fire the fake Emerald would collide with the beam and disrupt it, preventing the cannon from firing. He spun his arm forward, throwing the fake Super Emerald, only to find there was nothing in his hand! He spun around and saw Scales behind him, holding the Super Emerald. She had warped behind him and grabbed the fake before he could throw it. She shook her head, making a "Tsk tsk" sound. Shadow spun around in time to see the energy fire outward, streaking for the planet. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" He yelled.  
  
And that's the end. No really, that's the end of the Hero Story! To find out what happens, you'll have to see the Last Story, and I won't have that up until I'm done with the Dark Story. I'm sorry to leave you with a cliffhanger, but it helps with the suspense and will hopefully make you want to read the next story when it comes. In any case, the first chapter of the Dark Story will be up by tomorrow, so I'll see you then. And please review to tell me what you thought of this! 


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